


It's Complicated

by nj_1996



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Anal Sex, Enemies to Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Oral Sex, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:01:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29639919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nj_1996/pseuds/nj_1996
Summary: This fic is inspired by Antonio's interview in which he says that apparently the drivers game together, including known mortal enemies Max Verstappen & Charles Leclerc.This is the story of how they went from enemies, to friends, to lovers, all started by those games bringing them together.
Relationships: Alexander Albon/George Russell, Charles Leclerc/Max Verstappen
Comments: 106
Kudos: 166





	1. Hurt

**Author's Note:**

> Yes! Really! ANOTHER chaptered fic that I'm starting. I just can't stop myself. When I get an idea like this I just really have to write it, and I was so excited about what Antonio said <3
> 
> I really hope you guys like the premise, let me know what you think!

‘’Tonio, you finally gave in!’’ Max said excitedly as he joined the Discord call. ‘’Are you all set up yet then? Sim ready and calibrated?’’ He asked curiously.

‘’Yup! I’m all good and ready!’’ Antonio replied happily. ‘’It took a lot of work and even more frustration, but it should finally all be good now!’’ He told the Dutchman. Antonio had finally gotten his simulator set up at home, and now that it was ready, he couldn’t wait to get started and race his friends and fellow drivers. Max had already been online, in the middle of an online race, so he had immediately sent the Dutchman a message, asking him to race as soon as he was done.

Max chuckled at Antonio’s words, smiling brightly at him through the camera. He had his game currently on his ultrawide centre monitor, with Discord on the side monitor, where he was currently able to see the Italian. ‘’So, we gonna race or what?’’ The Dutchman asked excitedly, making Antonio laugh a little as the man logged into the game and joined Max’s session. 

‘’Yeah, just a second, I’m trying to see who else is on and can join us…’’ Antonio trailed off a little as he spoke, typing some messages and looking to the side as Max could hear some notifications going off. He was about to speak up and suggest that they play a practice race to get into things as they waited, but the familiar sound of someone joining their Discord call rung through his headphones.

‘’Ciao, Antonio! Come stai amico mio?’’ A familiar voice called in Italian, and Charles’ face appeared large on the screen a moment later. Max could barely keep himself from groaning out loud. Charles fucking Leclerc. Of course. It just couldn’t be anyone else. Not Lando, or Alex, or George, or Nicky, no. It just had to be the Monegasque Menace himself. Max hadn’t spoken a word with him after Charles had pushed him off during the Sakhir Grand Prix, and if it had been up to him, it would’ve stayed that way.

Apparently, Charles hadn’t really counted on Max being there either, because he looked a little surprised when he looked at the screen and saw the Dutchman’s face on there. ‘’Oh, hi Max…’’ The Monegasque finally greeted, looking a little unsure of what exactly to say to the man. They had known each other for years upon years now, but really they seemed to have been fighting more often than they’d been able to actually have a proper conversation.

Max put it down to them just being too closely matched on track. It was always going to clash between them. Or Charles just being a massive dick. Either of those worked, really. ‘’Hi, Charles. You okay?’’ He finally asked the man, who nodded in response. He was wearing a cute hoodie and a bandana, and Max was momentarily distracted enough by that that he didn’t really listen to what the man had to say in response. He just nodded when Charles’ mouth stopped moving. ‘’Uhhu. You gonna race with us then?’’

‘’Yup!’’ Charles said happily. ‘’I’ve been practicing a little in my time off, so I’m pretty sure that I can beat you now.’’ He told Max happily. It made the Dutchman roll his eyes a little. He won races online. He could compete with the actual pros. There was no way that Charles could keep up with him. ‘’Uh huh. Sure you can.’’ He just replied, shifting his attention back to Antonio. ‘’Anyone else coming, Tonio?’’

The Italian nodded happily, having been busy sending messages back and forth while Max and Charles spoke. ‘’Yes. George and Alex should be joining us soon, but maybe we can do a bit of a practice race first while we wait, yes?’’ Max smiled at the suggestion and nodded, sending Charles an invite to join his session. ‘’Yeah, sounds good to me. I can put mr. Ferrari here in his place before we actually start.’’ He teased, smirking a little as he glanced over at a very determined looking Charles. 

The Monegasque just huffed a little in return then, narrowing his eyes slightly. ‘’We’ll just see about that.’’ He told Max, before the Dutchman pressed a button and launched them into a short practice race.

The entire thing was close. Much more so than Max had assumed or really was at all comfortable with. Charles was good. He was really, really good. They absolutely left Antonio in their dust, but that was to be assumed, given that the man had only just started his virtual racing career. Out in front, Max had to do his utmost to keep Charles behind. The Monegasque was never further than a second or two behind him, and any mistake that he made would likely turn out to be a fatal one.

It was finally on lap 9 out of 10 that Max suddenly got startled when he heard the familiar Discord notification again, signalling that someone had entered the call. It surprised him and brought him out of his concentration for a split second, causing for him to completely miss his braking point and lose the position to Charles. ‘’Yeeeeeeeeeeeees!’’ The Monegasque called smugly, a grin on his face when Max glanced over. ‘’Oh thank you George, I’m going to win noooooooow.’’ 

Charles seemed incredibly pleased with himself, and there really wasn’t enough time at all for Max to catch up again with Charles before the race was over. ‘’You only won because George distracted me!’’ Max called as soon as he crossed the line, sending everyone else into laughter. ‘’Well, if it makes things better, you really aren’t the first person to be distracted by all of this goodness, Max.’’ George replied with a grin, looking incredibly amused already by how grumpy losing was making the Dutchman.

‘’And hi to you too, boys. Looks like you started without me and Alex. Rude.’’ George added, making Charles chuckle. ‘’We just wanted to get a little practice in before you came in and destroyed all of us, George!’’ The Monegasque called happily. Alex joined the conversation then, smiling brightly. ‘’Hi boys!’’ He said happily, seeing everyone in the Discord call. ‘’We all good?’’

‘’Well, I’d say yes, but I think I’ve already turned Max against me by distracting him with my looks and making him lose his race against Charlie.’’ George continued to tease, making Max roll his eyes again. ‘’I was distracted by the sound, George. Not by your looks.’’ He told the Englishman, who just continued to chuckle a little. ‘’Right…’’ Alex just said in response to that, realizing that he probably missed a whole lot in the time that he hadn’t been in the conversation yet.

‘’So, are we playing iRacing then?’’ Alex asked, shifting the conversation to a topic that Max was a lot more comfortable with. ‘’Yes we are!’’ He said quickly. ‘’I’ll send you guys an invite to join the session and we’ll do a race on Spa and if you all don’t make any surprising noises, I will show you I can easily beat Charles.’’

‘’What’s that?’’ Charles asked with a smirk. ‘’I think the score is actually 1-0 to me now, Max. So we’ll see if you can actually do your best to get to my level.’’ The Monegasque was happily teasing, knowing very well just how easy it was to rile Max up if he wanted to.

The others got in a bit more conversation then, asking each other how their vacations had been and things like that, while Max was completely focused on making the set-up of his car as best as it could possibly be. He had to beat Charles. He had to prove that he was better. He just had to. It wasn’t even really a question.

They did a qualifying lap first, with Max and Charles ending up a distance P1 & P2, in that order. Max huffed then, smirking when he saw the result. ‘’Not so easy to score pole when you don’t have an illegal engine now, is it?’’ He asked the Monegasque, who just stayed completely silent in response. He generally didn’t answer whenever someone mentioned the Ferrari engine, not wanting to admit that all of his poles and both of his wins were with an illegal car.

‘’Oh, come on Max. Don’t be like that. We’re having a good time here.’’ George chided the man, who just shrugged a little. ‘’It’s true though.’’ He mumbled, before he decided to cut the conversation short by starting the race. From the corner of his eye, he could see Charles take in a deep breath, puffing himself up a little, and for a split second Max thought that he was looking pretty cute. He quickly shook his head though, clearing the thought. No. He wasn’t cute. He was a dick.

They got into the game then, and Max focused up immediately. The red lights went on one by one, and as they finally went out, he was completely in the zone. He shot off the line, easily keeping first place into the first corner and trying to pull a gap as quickly as he could. They were doing an hour long race with a mandatory pitstop, so there was quite a way to go yet.

The only one that was really able to follow him at all was Charles. He stayed behind on about a 2.5 second gap, but much to Max’s frustration, he just couldn’t get the difference to grow. Whatever he tried, the Monegasque stayed about that far back, seemingly just biding his time and waiting for his chance to pounce as soon as Max made a mistake.

They went like that for lap after lap, all the way up to the pitstop. The gap they had pulled to the other guys was almost laughable, and they really didn’t have to worry at all about any of those guys catching up with them. A lap before Max was planning to go in, he could suddenly see the gap between him and Charles starting to decrease, and as he turned onto the main straight, the Monegasque went into the pits. Max instantly figured that he was trying an undercut, doing an absolute flyer of an out-lap to try and get out in front of Max as the Dutchman struggled another lap on his older tyres.

Max decided to not worry too much for the time being, and just put his head down to put in an amazing in-lap. He was flying across the circuit as quickly as his old tyres would allow, and there was nothing to do but watch as he turned into the pits and let the AI take over for the time being. He could see the gap between him and Charles decrease on the top left-hand side of the screen, and Max actually got a little breathless as he stared at it. 

When he finally came out of the pits, the two of them were practically side by side as they headed to Eau Rouge. Finally, at the last moment, Max dropped some throttle, letting Charles go in first so he could try and take advantage of the slipstream on the long straight afterwards.

They both absolutely flew up the incline, and really, Max felt almost as much adrenaline in his body as he did when he went up this corner for real, rather than in his shorts on the simulator. He crept closer and closer to the back of Charles as they got out of the corner and onto the straight, with Max finally managing to get himself on the outside of the Monegasque as they approached the braking point. 

For a moment there, it seemed like they were going to play a game of chicken, but finally, Charles was the first to hit the brakes. He had forced Max to the outside, but it meant that he was himself off the racing line. He just had to brake a little earlier to make the corner, and Max took his chance. He sent his car around the outside of Charles, cheering loudly as he consolidated his position into the next corner.

‘’That’s what I’m talking about!’’ Max called excitedly, fist pumping for a moment before he had to focus again. He smirked as he momentarily glanced at Charles, who looked incredibly annoyed with the fact that he couldn’t make his undercut stick. They stayed like that for lap after lap, Max in front with Charles very uncomfortably close behind. 

It seemed like unless Max was going to make a mistake, this was the way that this was going to end. That was, until the second to last lap. Max’s exit out of the first chicane hadn’t been amazing, and Charles was right up there as they went up the incline through Eau Rouge. He got closer and closer, finally able to put his car alongside the Dutchman as Max stayed on the racing line on the outside. It seemed like they were heading for a repeat of their earlier battle, only Charles wasn’t going to give up so easily this time.

He didn’t brake early, waited for the moment that he would usually brake on the racing line before he let go of the throttle. Only really, there was a reason why he had to brake earlier on that line, he couldn’t possibly make the corner now… Max, having not expected Charles to miss his braking point at all, stayed on his outside line, only to feel the heavy vibrations through his steering wheel as Charles rammed into him and sent them both flying off the track. 

‘’What the fuck?!’’ The Dutchman immediately called out. ‘’Seriously Leclerc?! Are you fucking kidding me?!’’ Max had reached his boiling point in an impressively short amount of time, and as the others drove past one by one as he attempted to get out of the gravel trap, the Dutchman just kept going. 

‘’What kind of a fucking moron are you? Seriously, how stupid do you have to be to miss your braking point like that? How the fuck are you a professional racing driver with stupid moves like that? Honestly.’’ Max was absolutely fuming at this point, and he really didn’t seem to hold back at all. ‘’Max, come on. Don’t be like that.’’ Alex finally said, and the Dutchman made a point of rolling his eyes.

‘’Oh come on, Alex. Like you wouldn’t be annoyed if some moron fucking shoved into you from the side with an impossible divebomb. Clearly he can’t win without an illegal car to help him, so he just resorts to illegal moves of his own to try and win that way. The little cheat. He’s always been like that, ever since he was in karting and he pushed me off the track to try and win.’’ As Max ranted angrily, Charles was dead silent. He didn’t speak a word, or make a single sound. He just looked sad, deflated. Like he really wanted to be anywhere but there.

Charles was the last one to drive across the finish line, and once he had done so and Max was about to speak up again, he logged out of the game and left the Discord call without a word. ‘’Maaaaaaaaaate.’’ George started, sighing deeply. ‘’You can’t just go off on Charlie boy like that. You know that he’s a sensitive boy. Go apologize.’’

Max rolled his eyes, both at Charles’ very obvious dramatics and George’s words. ‘’He’s just playing the sympathy card so that you all wouldn’t be annoyed with him because he’s driving like an amateur.’’ It stayed silent for a little while then, before it was finally Antonio who spoke up. ‘’Why are you always so mean to Charles? As far as I know he’s just tried to be your friend. You’re rivals on the track, I understand, but…why can’t you be friendly to him off of it?’’

Max too fell silent for a moment then. He…he really hadn’t thought of it like that before. Why couldn’t he be friends with Charles? It wasn’t rivalry. He had been rivals with Dan for three years as teammates, and now they were the best of friends. Why was Charles so different? What was different about the Monegasque and his stupidly beautiful face, and his unnaturally good looks, and his eyes that distracted Max a little sometimes by how mesmerizing they were that made it so he could only be mean at the guy, rather than friendly? It was a mystery.

Even Max though had to admit that he maybe had overdone it a little bit. He bit his lip slightly then, deciding on his course of action. ‘’I…do you guys all really think that I should apologize to Charles?’’ He asked the three remaining men, who all nodded in return.

‘’Yeah, definitely.’’ Alex told the Dutchman. ‘’I’ve never understood why you two aren’t friends. You have the same interests, you live in the same place. And yet you two always seem like you’re about two seconds away from either kissing or punching each other in the face.’’ He said as he started to giggle to himself. 

Max rolled his eyes at that. Him, kissing Charles? Preposterous. That was unthinkable. He could never gently put his hands on the sides of Charles’ neck, his thumbs gently brushing over his cheeks as he leaned in, watching those beautiful eyes and long lashes flutter closed as he pressed their lips together in a kiss that would set off fireworks all over their bodies.

It was insane to even consider.

The Dutchman finally let out a long, deep sigh and resigned himself to his fate. ‘’I’ll apologize…And I think that I’m actually gonna call it a night too, guys. It’s been fun, I’ll talk to you all again soon.’’ With that, Max left the call, chewing on his lip a little as he fished his phone out of his pocket. Finally, he found Charles’ number in his contacts, opened a chat window, and sent the Monegasque a text.

_‘’Hey…So I wanted to say sorry. I was out of line going off on you like that. So, yeah…hope we’re okay._

As soon as Max hit send, he let his head fall back, sighing deeply. His brain was telling him all kinds of different things, but he just couldn’t resist sending Charles a second text right after.

_I had fun though, you’re really good at simracing. Do you maybe wanna play again tomorrow night? Just you and me?’’_


	2. Call of Duty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter the second!
> 
> In which Max and Lando have a talk, Charles is back, and Max has a bit of an existential crisis :D
> 
> Thank you so much for all of the subs and bookmarks and kudos after the first chapter! It's been a little overwhelming if I'm honest <3
> 
> And thank you most of all to the lovely commenters. Nothing is better than receiving a nice comment, love you so much for taking the time to make me feel special! <3333

Max absolutely _hated_ waiting. He just wasn’t made for it. So when Charles just didn’t answer and left him on read, that was something that the Dutchman didn’t really deal with all that well. He angrily spent the rest of the night playing Call of Duty with Lando, checking his phone every so often to see whether that annoying, insufferable, boyband looking semi-Frenchman had replied to him yet. He had not. 

‘’Mate, why are you so off your game tonight, what’s wrong?’’ Lando eventually asked, a bit done with Max getting constantly distracted and performing so much under his normal level. The Dutchman sighed deeply in return, shrugging a little as he glanced at Lando’s image on his left screen. ‘’I dunno mate, I’m just really annoyed with everything right now. I can’t really seem to concentrate all that well.’’

Lando started to chuckle a little to himself, smirking as he looked over at Max’s face on his screen. ‘’A planned hook-up not texting you back or something? Is Maxy being blue-balled?’’ He teased. Max rolled his eyes in response to his friend, before sighing again. ‘’No, it’s not that. Did Antonio send you a message earlier tonight about wanting to race?’’ He asked the Brit, who nodded in response. ‘’Yeah, he did, why?’’ Lando asked curiously.

‘’Well, I was in that session, with Antonio and George and Alex…..and Charles.’’ The way that Max paused before finally saying the Monegasque’s name made Lando chuckle, and he smiled as he sat back to relax a little in his chair. ‘’And what did your nemesis do this time to annoy you more than anything else in the world?’’ He asked with a bit of a smirk, watching as Max groaned a little.

‘’Well, we were doing a race and on the second to last lap he fucking shunted me off track and I went off a little on him like you know that I can do…and then he was just sad and silent and left without a word.’’ Max explained to his friend. He sighed again then, before he continued. ‘’So I then realized that I might have been just a little harsh on him, and everyone told me as much, too. I sent him a text to apologize and to ask if he wanted to play again tomorrow night, because the racing was actually really fun until we crashed. But…he hasn’t responded yet. He just left me on read. And you know how much I hate that.’’

Lando started to laugh a little then as he nodded. ‘’Oh yeah, I found that out the hard way.’’ He replied as he continued to chuckle a little. ‘’Why do you care so much all of a sudden though? You’ve always hated Charles.’’ Max shrugged in response. ‘’I don’t really hate him…’’ He admitted quietly. ‘’I just…he’s always been an asshole on track and he can be a dick about it afterwards.’’

Lando burst out into laughter once more then, finding this absolutely hilarious. ‘’That’s you! That’s an accurate description of you! Oh, that’s funny!’’ He said through the giggles, while Max just sat there, glaring at the Lando on his screen. ‘’I hate you.’’ He told his friend, who continued to smile brightly. ‘’Love you too, honey.’’ He replied happily.

‘’So do you want me to text Charles and see if he responds to me?’’ Lando asked then. It was getting pretty late, and maybe the Monegasque had already gone to bed or something like that. ‘’Yeah, that could work…’’ Max replied with a bit of a shrug. It couldn’t hurt at least, so they might as well try it and see what happened. Lando hummed then, grabbing his phone and sending a text to Charles.

_Yoooo, Charlie. You still up?_

The reply from Charles was almost instant, and Lando couldn’t help but smirk a little as he looked directly at the camera.

 _Hi, Lando! Yes, I’m up. What is it? :)_ read the Monegasque’s reply.

Lando got an absolutely devious idea then, texting Charles back without disccusing it with Max. 

_Playing CoD. You wanna join in on the fun?_

Really, the Brit could only smirk as the reply came. This was going to be good.

_Sure, sounds fun! Be right there!_

‘’What did he say?’’ Max asked as soon as Lando looked up from his phone. ‘’He said that he’s up and that he’d love to come and play CoD.’’ The Brit said with an innocent smile. Knowing very well what Lando was like, Max groaned and immediately facepalmed. ‘’And did you tell him that I was here, too…?’’ He asked his friend, who hummed for a moment. ‘’That might have actually slipped my mind. Do you think it was important to tell him that?’’ He asked, completely unable to stop the smirk that was creeping onto his face.

‘’For fuck’s sake, Lando. Why are you like this?’’ Max asked with a long, deep sigh. ‘’Because you dumb-dumbs are always acting like fighting idiots around each other when anyone with a brain and two eyes can see that you should clearly just be friends. And maybe kiss. But that part is up to you.’’ He grinned as he started teasing again towards the end there, and Max rolled his eyes. ‘’Fine. But I’m not responsible for what happens if this goes wrong again.’’

Lando just continued to smirk in response, and it really wasn’t long after that a familiar notification noise rang through Max’s ears, before Charles’ smiling face appeared on the screen. The Monegasque’s smile faded almost immediately though, seeing Max in the call and for a moment, he seemed like a deer caught in the headlights. 

‘’Charles!’’ Lando said excitedly. ‘’So happy you could join us! You alright, mate?’’ He asked the man curiously. Charles blinked a few times then, before he was able to focus on Lando’s words. ‘’Yes, yes I am, Lando. Thank you. You too?’’ He replied with a polite smile. ‘’Yup.’’ Lando answered happily, popping the ‘p’ as he invited Charles to their group session on CoD and instantly launched them into the queue for a game.

Max found that the entire situation was just incredibly awkward. He didn’t really want to mention what happened at all, not anymore, but he did sort of want to know if he and Charles were okay now or not. The Monegasque didn’t mention it either though, and before they really knew it, they were launched into the game itself, with Lando taking the lead and the two other men following.

Lando died soon enough though, having been reckless as usual, and that meant that it was just Max and Charles left, being forced to work together. Charles still hadn’t said a word to Max, and it was almost like the Dutchman was pulled from a trance as the Monegasque yelled to ‘’Cover me! They’re on the other rooftop!’’ Max immediately sprung into action, taking out the guy that was trying to snipe Charles from a distance, and smirked when he got the kill confirmed. ‘’BOOM. That’s how we do it!’’ He called excitedly, and he could see that even Charles was smiling brightly.

‘’Come on!’’ Charles yelled then, seemingly with renewed hope and energy. ‘’We can win this! I am sure that we can win this, Max!’’ 

They could not win this.

They ended up coming in 9th as a squad on the game, much to everyone’s disappointment. ‘’Well…that went slightly better than we have done so far tonight.’’ Max finally commented, making Charles chuckle a little. ‘’I didn’t know that you two were that terrible.’’ The Monegasque teased in response, which apparently set off another little lightbulb in Lando’s head. Those always proved to be bad news.

‘’Oh no, we were just off of our game tonight because Maxy has been distracted. His planned booty call left him on read all night and he could really get over it.’’ The Brit teased with a bright smile. ‘’Anyway, I don’t know about you guys, but I have sim duty tomorrow morning, so I’m gonna go actually. Byyyeeee guys. Have fun playing!’’ He called, before he suddenly left the call, leaving Max and Charles all on their own.

‘’Oh……..kay.’’ Max just said, before he started laughing. ‘’God, he’s so weird sometimes.’’ He added as he shook his head on Lando’s antics. ‘’He is.’’ Charles agreed. ‘’But he is a good guy, I think.’’ Max nodded in response to the Monegasque, smiling a little to himself as he looked at the game menu. ‘’Do you wanna go another game? I have time if you do.’’ He proposed to Charles, who barely had to think at all before he was nodding. ‘’Yes! I really want to play more!’’

They ended up playing Call of Duty together until about 2 in the morning, when Charles really couldn’t hold himself back from yawning anymore. He’d had a long day, and while playing games with Max had turned out to be a lot more fun than he had initially thought as he’d come onto the Discord call, it was really time now to call it a night and go to bed. ‘’I think that’s enough for me for today.’’ Charles finally said, rubbing at his eyes a little before he gave Max a lazy smile.

‘’I’m sorry that your booty call for tonight cancelled, but I hope that I was entertaining enough for you.’’ The Monegasque added with a chuckle, as Max just groaned again. ‘’Lando is such an asshole. He was joking though. I really need you to know that he was joking. Nobody would ever cancel a booty call with me.’’ Max did his best to turn the awkward situation into a joke, and it seemed to work when Charles started to laugh, immediately followed by another big yawn.

Watching Charles made the Dutchman chuckle a little, and he nodded. ‘’Okay yeah, calling it a night sounds like a good idea to me, too.’’ He told the man. It was silent for a moment then, and Max wondered whether he should ask about his texts, but he finally decided not to. Their playing CoD together had been really fun, and he didn’t want to ruin it now right before they ended it. ‘’Goodnight then, Charles. Talk to you soon.’’ He told the Monegasque, before Max finally logged off and turned his PC off to get to bed.

Max stretched himself out as he got up from his chair, having gone a little stiff from sitting down to play games for so long, and undressed himself in his bedroom before he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. When he finally came back and crawled in, he went to set an alarm for the morning, only to find that he had a text. 

_We’re good, Maxy :) How about nine tomorrow night? After dinner?_

Max couldn’t help but smile as he read Charles’ text. He felt relieved that they were okay, because the more he thought about it, the guiltier he felt about being so angry with the man. Charles had been really nice during their games on CoD. Really funny and engaging, and it made Max think again about what Alex had said. Why weren’t he and Charles friends? 

He momentarily bit his lip as he stared up at the ceiling, suddenly remembering the lessons that he had been taught from an extremely early age. ‘Do not become friend with your rivals. It’s hard to race against friends, and easy to be ruthless against someone you hate.’ 

Max swallowed thickly as he thought back on it and shook his head. He didn’t want to live like that anymore. He wanted to have friends on the grid, guys that he could hang out with. He was already close with Lando, but that was mainly because the guy was a few years younger, and therefore had never been a threat to Max in the feeder series. 

He had never really been able to have friends of his own age. Alex, George, but most of all Charles. They had been rivals from the moment they first raced each other, and while it was some of the best and most fun racing that Max had experienced in his life, every grey-area-like move that Charles made caused him to hate the boy more. Especially if Max felt like he deserved more than he got.

He wallowed in his own thoughts for a little bit longer, before he finally realized that he hadn’t sent Charles a text back. He needed to rectify that immediately.

 _Sounds good to me! See you then!_ He replied to the Monegasque, before he finally put his phone aside and got comfortable for the night, falling asleep not long after.

That night, Max dreamt of Charles. It was only natural really, when spending an entire evening thinking so hard about a certain person. What was weird though, was the way the dream-Charles seemed to act around him. He gave Max hugs and made him food, even cuddled up to him on the couch when he joined him. It felt really nice. It felt natural. It felt right.

Max looked down at Charles then, giving him a warm smile as the Monegasque lifted his chin to look the Dutchman in the eye. ‘’We’re okay.’’ Dream-Charles whispered then, a smile on his face as he leaned in and gently pressed his lips against Max’s. ‘’I love you.’’

Max suddenly awoke with a startle then, gasping as his eyes went wide and his heart threatened to beat out of his chest at the speeds it was currently going. For the moment, he remembered everything about his dream. Every moment and detail were sharp in his mind. ‘’What the fuck…’’ He said quietly.

He had never had gay thoughts before. At least, not as far as Max could remember. Then why was…why was Charles kissing him in his dream? Why did dream-Charles say that he loved him? Why did thinking back on it give him such a fuzzy feeling in his stomach? And worst of all…why was he hard?

Max had to take a few deep breaths then, closing his eyes for a moment as his body was threatening to give him both an existential crisis and a panic attack at the same time. He could really handle only one of those at once. 

He put both of his hands over his eyes then, shaking his head. ‘’No. No no no no. This can’t really be happening.’’ He mumbled, taking a few deep breaths. Images of a sweaty, half undressed, very sweaty, post-race Charles in tight, white fireproofs suddenly entered his mind, and the Dutchman could feel his cock stirring again underneath the covers. 

Max finally rolled over then, burying his face in one of the pillows as he let out a frustrated scream. He was not sexually interested in Charles. That just wasn’t a thing. Couldn’t be. He was straight. Straight as they come. He had fucked girls. A lot of them. Maybe too many. But then…why couldn’t he stop thinking about that stupid Monegasque, and his beautiful face, and his endlessly deep eyes, and his long eyelashes, and just…AAAAHHH.

It got worse. After a few minutes, Max’s heart had finally calmed down, and his erection had faded. He was still feeling very uncertain of himself and what the hell was happening inside of his own mind, but at least the physical proof for it had gone. What didn’t help in the slightest, was that he had received another text from Charles as he checked his phone, from just a few minutes earlier.

 _Remind me to not play videogames with you again until 2 in the morning when I have to train at 9… ):_ The Monegasque’s text read. 

The text itself, Max could handle. What turned out to be a lot more difficult was the selfie that Charles had sent along with it. He was clearly pouting, and his beautiful face, eyes and long lashes were on full display as he looked sweaty from what Max assumed to be his morning run.

The Dutchman had to swallow then, and he bit his lip as he continued to stare at the picture.

Yeah…this was going to be a bit of a problem.


	3. Cold Shower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 here we go!
> 
> Firstly, thank you all so, so, so much for your messages and your compliments and your kind words. It's really amazing to hear and it makes me really happy and motivated to write more! <3
> 
> In this chapter: Max sleeps and works out, plays videogames with Charles, and has a talk. Exciting stuff :D

Max really had no idea what to reply to Charles’ selfie. It made him feel things. Things that he was incredibly uncomfortable with. He found himself staring at the image for way too long, his eyes carefully taking in every aspect of the Monegasque’s insanely beautiful face. He usually went for his morning workout before taking his shower, but he just had to take a cold shower right then, to try and get rid of how turned on part of him still felt.

He gasped as he stepped underneath the cold water, taking a few short, shallow breaths as he got used to the temperature. ‘’Fuck…’’ He mumbled, bracing his hands against the wall as he kept his head underneath the spray. What the hell was happening to him? Charles was a guy, he couldn’t be attracted to him. It was impossible. It had to be a fluke. Had to be. Just his body playing a weird trick on him, that’s all. Those thoughts managed to reassure the Dutchman, at least for the time being, and he finally turned up the temperature a little, able to enjoy his shower somewhat more now.

It wasn’t long before he could finally relax and started to wash himself. Max washed both his body and his hair first, before familiar images of past hook-ups starting to come back into his mind, and he slowly grew hard again. ‘’Yeah…that’s more like it.’’ He mumbled then, closing his eyes to picture it better as he slowly wrapped a hand around himself and started to jerk off.

Before long, Max could feel himself getting close. He thought about his last hook-up as he approached his high, how excitedly she had kneeled down for him and wrapped her pretty lips around his cock, sucking him down and taking everything that he gave her. Those gorgeous, soft lips. Charles’ soft lips on his own as they made out. Max wondered what they would feel like around hi-‘’Oooohhhh, fuck…’’ Max moaned as he came, blowing his load hard against the shower tiles.

He braced himself against the shower wall then, breathing heavily as his heart rate slowly came down to a normal level again. As it did, Max let out a loud groan, finally moving to rest his forehead against the cold tiles instead. ‘’Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!’’ He just called out. He had just come to the mental image of Charles Leclerc sucking him off. That was about seventy different ways of not okay. ‘’Stop it.’’ He finally told himself. ‘’Just….please. Stop it.’’

He was feeling a little shaky, barely remembering to clean up after himself before he shut the water off and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel and drying himself off. ‘’Just stop thinking about him.’’ Max told himself as he stared into the mirror. ‘’Just stop thinking about him and everything will be alright. You’re just…sexually frustrated. It’s been a while.’’ He was trying to convince himself more than anything, and it seemed to somewhat work, at least for the time being.

He went to put on his running clothes then, getting a quick bite before it was time to head out. He didn’t want to go and run after too big a breakfast. Max went a little longer than usual that day, trying his best to clear his head and keep himself from having any thoughts about one subject in particular by pushing himself to the limit. When he finally got back home, Max had to lie down for a little while, getting his strength back afterwards in the form of a nutritious lunch.

The rest of the day was spent as usual. His trainer Bradley showed up not too long after lunch, working on Max’s muscles after the morning had been spent on cardio. Bradley noticed soon enough just how tense his pupil was, and so he decided that a massage was in order after they’d finished all of their exercises for the day.

‘’Jesus mate, you’re tense. What’s the matter?’’ Bradley asked as he worked on Max’s shoulders. The Dutchman really just groaned in return, shaking his head a little as he remained face down on the massage table. ‘’It’s just a personal thing. Don’t wanna talk about it. Should be over with soon enough.’’ He told the man, who sighed softly. ‘’Alright, mate. Your call. Just make sure to talk to someone if you need it. Bottling things up isn’t healthy. And it’s not doing wonders for your body either.’’

Bradley stayed with Max until dinnertime, making the Dutchman a healthy meal before finally leaving for the day. ‘’See you tomorrow!’’ Max called as the man left, before he dug back into his meal. It wasn’t the tastiest thing he’d ever eaten, but apparently it did the job, so he wasn’t complaining too much. He’d never had the ease to stay in shape that some of the other drivers did, so besides the odd beer every now and then, he really watched his food intake.

By then though, it had become inevitable. Max had planned an evening with Charles, and it wasn’t like he could call it off because he was suddenly thinking of the Monegasque in all kinds of weird, sexual ways. He checked his texts then, really for the first time since that morning, and found that he had a text from the man in question from about an hour earlier.

_Are we still on for tonight…? You haven’t gotten back to me all day ):_

‘’Fuck…’’ Max mumbled immediately. He was being such an asshole. The least he could’ve done was reply to Charles’ unbearably cute selfie. The Monegasque really just needed to stop being so cute in general. He was so insecure, always craving everyone else’s affection. They were complete polar opposites in that way. It was cute though…

 _Of course we are! I’m done with dinner, so ready when you are. Sorry I haven’t texted back before now, been really busy all day!_ Was what Max finally settled on as a reply. It wasn’t much of an explanation, but it was better than nothing at all.

He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge then, before finally heading over to his sim, getting seated comfortably before he booted everything up and put his headset on, calling Charles over Discord in a private call. It rung a few times, but the Monegasque finally picked up, and Max couldn’t help but smile when the man’s excited looking face appeared on his screen.

‘’Maxyyyyy!’’ Charles said happily. ‘’I’m glad you haven’t forgotten about me! I was starting to worry a little about it there!’’ He told the man, chuckling a little to himself. Max was still just wearing workout clothes, not having bothered to change into anything else, but Charles looked like a fucking model, as always. He was wearing a black Armani t-shirt, with a matching bandana and those glasses that he had on from time to time.

‘’Of course I hadn’t. We said we’d race tonight, didn’t we?’’ Max replied with a big smile. ‘’Those glasses suit you really well, by the way.’’ It was out before he had even really realized it. The Dutchman’s eyes widened ever so slightly as he realized what exactly he was saying, and he bit his lip for a moment, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward. He shouldn’t be talking about any other guy’s appearance. It was super weird.

Charles on the other hand, just laughed a little and nodded. ‘’Thank you! I need them for seeing well sometimes.’’ He explained happily. He clicked a few things then, apparently booting up his game and sending Max an invite. ‘’Do you want to race one on one or do you want to race online against other people?’’ The Monegasque asked curiously.

Max hummed for a moment as he considered it, but finally based his decision on the fact that having other people around to race against was a lot more likely to distract him from the stupidly handsome boy on his screen. ‘’Let’s go online.’’ He told Charles, the Monegasque nodded as he started a game for them.

They ended up playing for hours again. Given that they weren’t racing in any actual leagues with professional sim racers, either Max or Charles usually ended up winning. Both of them were a lot less competitive this time around, knowing that they were really just doing this for fun. And Max realised that Charles was probably holding himself back a little to keep the peace. God knows Max was doing so himself. He was way too competitive otherwise, and he knew Charles was a little shit, too.

It was finally approaching one in the morning again when Charles let out a bit of a sigh and slumped down a little in his chair, looking over at Max’s image on his screen. ‘’Hey Maxy, can I ask you something?’’ He finally asked. Max hummed a little. He was still looking at the statistics of their last race, and he was a little distracted. ‘’Yeah, sure.’’ He finally told the Monegasque, who sighed a little again before he spoke up.

‘’Why have you always hated me?’’ Charles finally asked. Max completely froze. He just stared at the screen for a little while, before he finally turned his head towards Charles’ image on his left, his frown getting deeper by the second. ‘’What do you mean I hate you?’’ He asked the Monegasque.

Max defensively crossed his arms as he sat back in his chair, staring over at Charles, who seemed to have gotten a little uncomfortable. ‘’I mean…you know. You’re always angry with me, we’ve never been friends and whenever I try and have an actual conversation with you it normally ends up in a huge fight…How else am I supposed to take that?’’ He asked the Dutchman.

It was Max’s turn to let out a long, deep sigh then and he shook his head for a moment. ‘’I don’t hate you, Charles. I’ve never really hated you. I’ve been angry with you. Furious, even.’’ He facepalmed for a moment then, chuckling to himself before going ‘’Nothing, just an inchident.’’ In a very overly done French/Italian accent. ‘’I mean, what the fuck was that, you dick?’’

Charles started giggling a little too at the reminder, smiling as he thought back on it. ‘’Okay so I guess that I can be an asshole sometimes, too. But that’s all on track and just after the race. It doesn’t explain why we’ve never been friends though…’’ The Monegasque replied. It made Max hum a little, and he watched Charles for a moment before he answered. ‘’Do you want to be friends with me?’’ He finally asked.

The question made Charles frown a little. ‘’What? Of course I do, that’s a stupid question.’’ He told the Dutchman, who chuckled a little before he just continued to look at Max. ‘’Why?’’ Charles continued to frown then, not really understanding. ‘’What do you mean, why?’’ He replied.

‘’Why do you want to be friends with me?’’ Max asked then, pulling one of his legs up a little to get more comfortable in the sim-chair as they talked, the game long forgotten. ‘’Because…’’ Charles started immediately, before he stayed quiet for a moment, clearly thinking his answer over. ‘’Because we’ve known each other for years, and beside us living in the same place and having similar interests, I know that underneath the super tough exterior that you put up, you’re a really nice guy. And a really good friend to the people that you let in.’’

Max stared at Charles for a moment then, before he swallowed thickly. He hadn’t expected an answer like that, and now he didn’t really know what to do with it if he was honest. ‘’That…That was the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me.’’ He finally said quietly. Max sucked in a deep breath then, feeling the cold air evening air spread through his lungs to ground him a little again.

‘’I would really like to be friends with you, Charles. As long as you’re going to accept that I’m still going to be an absolute asshole around the circuit.’’ Max finally told the Monegasque with a smile. Charles started to laugh then, shaking his head a little as he was quite clearly amused by the Dutchman’s words. ‘’Good. I wouldn’t want you to go all soft on me now.’’ He replied, attempting one of his trademark terrible winks that made Max giggle. ‘’How are you so terrible at those?!’’ He demanded.

They continued to talk for a little while longer, and Charles finally fished his phone out of his pocket to seemingly look something up. ‘’Uhm, I have to go to Maranello tomorrow, but I’ll be back the day after. Do you maybe wanna come over for dinner? Don’t get me wrong, this is really nice and fun and all, but if we’re going to be friends we need to get to know each other a little better, and I want to do that in person.’’ The man explained with a happy smile on his face.

Max found that he really could not say no to that smile. Not when it was meant specifically for him. ‘’Yes, sure! That sounds really nice, actually.’’ He told the Monegasque. ‘’Text me your address and what time you’ll want me to be there and of course I’ll show up!’’ He said happily. Honestly, he was feeling quite unsure whether this was a good idea or not, but everything was happening way too quickly for Max to endlessly mull them over.

Charles put the reminder of the dinner in his agenda and put his phone away again then, giving Max another bright smile. ‘’So, I’m gonna go to bed now. I have an early flight over to Italy and I don’t want to be completely exhausted once I get there. Goodnight, Maxy.’’ He told the Dutchman, who nodded in response.

‘’Yeah, that sounds about right to me, too. I’m still tired from last night if I’m honest.’’ Max replied, laughing a little as he stretched himself out. ‘’I’m gonna head to bed, too. Goodnight, Charles.’’ They ended their call then, and Max let out a long, deep sigh as he took his headset off.

He ended up just staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, trying to process what the hell had just happened. He had been called out on his behaviour, Charles had somehow charmed him into being friends now, and he was supposed to show up for dinner two days later. What was worse, he just could not get the image of Charles smiling at him through the camera out of his mind, no matter how hard he tried.

He was just so cute, so beautiful, so unbearably kind and lovely all the time. Max truly could not imagine anything worse. Especially if you were very busy trying to convince yourself that you weren’t in fact also a little interested in men…

Max could feel his phone buzzing then, and he checked it to see yet another text from Charles.

_I had a really great time tonight, Maxy. Hope I wasn’t too forward with me questions….I’m really looking forward to dinner though! I’ll make sure to make something nice! :)_

At seeing Charles’ text, Max just groaned out loud again. How was anyone allowed to be this insufferably adorable. It shouldn’t be allowed. He couldn’t keep himself from replying though, and he managed to think of something as he walked to bed and undressed, replying as he got comfy underneath the covers and ready to sleep.

_Me too! You were perfectly fine, don’t worry about it at all! And you’re really hyping up this dinner! I am expecting great things now, just so you know ;)_

As soon as he pressed send, Max regretted it. He had just sent a winky-emoji. A fucking wink. What the actual fuck. Was this flirting? Was he really flirting with Charles Leclerc? He put his phone away then, curling himself up and closing his eyes, hoping that he would manage to fall into a deep, preferably Charles-less sleep.


	4. Advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter the fourth! We're really getting into it now!
> 
> In this chapter: Max phones a friend, goes to an apartment, and plays a musical instrument. Truly riveting stuff.
> 
> The sexual tension in this though you guys. The. Sexual. Tension. I feel hot.

When Max woke up the next morning, his pillow and sheets felt a little damp, like his dreams had been distressing enough for him to work up a cold sweat, but he was incredibly thankful that he couldn’t remember a single second of them. He stretched himself out, letting out a big yawn before curling up again and sleepily reaching for his phone. He had a couple of texts from friends and family that he scrolled through, answering some and ignoring others, when he finally got to a message from Daniel, asking whether he could call him later to talk, since it’d been a while.

Max instantly replied that he would absolutely love to talk once he got back from his run, and stepped out of bed after sending the text back. He went into the bathroom, brushing his teeth and freshening himself up a little, before he put on his running clothes and started making his way outside. It was just nice to get this over with as soon as possible, while it was still quiet out and there wouldn’t really be any people around to bother him.

He was on his run for about an hour in total, getting a good distance in before taking a quick shower just after and finding his phone already ringing as he stepped out. ‘’Yooooo, Dan!’’ Max said happily as he answered it, putting the Aussie on speaker phone as he put some clothes on. ‘’Heeey, Maxy. You finally found some time in your busy schedule for little old me?’’ Dan teased, chuckling a little to himself as he spoke.

‘’Very funny, mate. You know that I do my run in the morning and I needed to take a shower so that I wouldn’t be disgusting.’’ Max replied, rolling his eyes a little as he finished putting some sweatpants on and took his phone along to lie down on the bed for the time being while he spoke with his friend. ‘’So what’s up? You getting all ready for the new start with your new team? Lando’s pretty excited about what you guys can do with the new engine from what I hear.’’

‘’Yuuuuuup.’’ Daniel said happily. ‘’It’s looking pretty good actually. But the fact that I’m gonna beat your sorry ass this year is actually not why I wanted to call you.’’ He added. ‘’I just wanted to hear from you and see how you’re doing without me around down in Monaco now that I have to be up here so much.’’ He explained, and Max instantly started laughing. 

‘’Do you really miss me that much, old man?’’ The Dutchman asked with a bit of a smirk, and Daniel really just hummed in return. ‘’What’s wrong with me calling one of my best friends to see if he’s doing okay? Yeah I might miss hanging out with you a little, sue me.’’ The Aussie responded, and Max was silent for a moment then. It really wasn’t much fun making fun of Daniel when he was going to be all nice and sincere about it.

‘’I miss you, too.’’ He told his friend, who chuckled softly in return. ‘’Good boy. Now tell me how you’ve been.’’ They talked for almost half an hour that, catching up a little and discussing how their lives were different now that they couldn’t really hang out so much anymore. Finally, when the conversation started to head towards its natural end, Max had to make a decision. He really, really felt like he needed to talk to someone about the weird things he was feeling and doing, and it would make sense to talk to Dan about it, right? He could trust him, and Dan usually knew what to do.

‘’Hey Dan…? Can I talk to you about something? Something private?’’ Max finally asked, and Daniel started to chuckle a little to himself. ‘’Something private? Are you finally old enough to start growing pubes then, Max?’’ He teased, and the Dutchman rolled his eyes. ‘’No, you dick. Something serious. Something that I need help with.’’

He got a more serious sounding hum from Daniel in return then, and that was the indication from Max to start talking. ‘’So…the other day I…fuck, this is difficult to say.’’ He mumbled. ‘’I have all the time in the world, Max. If you want to talk to me about it, just take your time and make sure that you say what you want to.’’ Dan told him gently. 

Max nodded softly at Daniel’s words, taking a bit of a breather to gather his thoughts before he continued. ‘’I started having thoughts…about a guy. Like…thinking that he’s pretty, or that he has really beautiful eyes, or that his voice sounds amazing. And…well the other night I had a dream in which I think that we were…together, and he kissed me, and he told me that he loved me and I woke up really turned on and…I don’t know I’m just really confused and I need to talk to someone about it.’’

Daniel was silent for a moment after Max finished talking, apparently taking it all in before he finally responded with an ‘’Oh, boy. That’s…okay. Are you really going into a complete meltdown because you have a little crush on a guy? Because as far as I’m aware it’s completely normal to have those from time to time. I had one on you at some point.’’ Daniel sounded extremely casual as he spoke, but Max’s mouth dropped open in shock. 

‘’You WHAT?!’’ He demanded from his friend, who just started laughing. ‘’Mate, you aren’t seriously going to tell me that you have never noticed me flirting with you in our final year together?’’ Daniel asked a very confused Max, who just groaned and momentarily buried his face in one of the pillows on his bed. ‘’I dunno…’’ He said when he’d finally lifted his head from there again. ‘’I just thought you were being a really friendly teammate and a good friend to me…’’ He explained.

‘’Uhhu, sure. So Maxy, next time that someone constantly tells you how good you look and how much sexier they think you’ve gotten over the years and actually says they would hit that, they might be flirting rather than being just friendly…’’ Daniel said, before he just started to laugh. ‘’How are you so oblivious?!’’

Max really just groaned again, hiding his face in the mattress as Daniel continued to laugh at him. ‘’You don’t still have a crush on me, do you?’’ He finally asked the Aussie. ‘’Nah, mate. It wasn’t build to last. We’re much better as friends anyway, so it’s good that we didn’t fuck.’’ Max blushed a little at the mention of them having sex, and didn’t really answer any further than a ‘’Yeah…’’

Daniel continued to chuckle, seemingly having a really nice time talking about this subject, and finally hummed softly. ‘’So do you care to tell me who this mystery hunk is who you have a crush on? Is it me? Because I think it should be me. Because I’m objectively hot, you know.’’ Max facepalmed then, groaning again as he considered coming fully clean with Daniel. 

After a long, deep sigh, he finally did. Daniel would likely just assume it was him until he did anyway. ‘’It’s Charles…’’ Max mumbled. ‘’It’s CHARLES?! Our Charles? Ferrari Charles? Your eternal nemesis Charles? It’s just an ‘inchident’ Charles? That Charles?’’ Daniel asked, clearly very shocked by this grand reveal. It made Max groan once again, and he closed his eyes as Daniel talked. ‘’Yeeeees. Please stop saying ‘Charles’ now.’’ The Dutchman practically begged.

‘’It’s just…wow. I can barely believe what I’m hearing.’’ Daniel told his friend, sounding absolutely delighted nonetheless. ‘’I thought you hated the guy for dumb, childish, petty reasons though?’’ He asked. ‘’I mean I did…but you know…we’ve gotten a little closer lately and we talked more and he’s just so fucking charming that it’s basically impossible to really hate him. And he’s really fucking pretty, too. That doesn’t help either.’’ Max started pouting a little then, while Daniel was practically giggling on the other side.

‘’This is genuinely amazing, Maxy. And I mean, I’m not one to disclose too many secrets, and what happens in Vegas usually stays in Vegas, but I happen to know for a fact that Charlie boy likes to get it on with one of the guys from time to time, too.’’ Daniel revealed, much to Max’s shock. ‘’Wait, really?’’ Max asked, and immediately his head started being filled with all kinds of very inappropriate thoughts. 

‘’Yes, yes I do.’’ Dan said and continued to chuckle. ‘’So if you want to do something with that crush, absolutely fucking go for it. I heard he broke up with his girlfriend not too long ago, so everything is wide open for you to get it on.’’ The Australian started to loudly hum Let’s Get It On then, before fully breaking into song, and Max genuinely could not believe that this idiot was one of his best friends. ‘’I hate you so much.’’ He mumbled.

‘’Love you too, Maxy.’’ Daniel replied happily. ‘’So, to come back to your original point, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about here. Everyone has a little guy crush from time to time. And even if it’s more than that, so what? It’s 2021, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with playing for both teams, mate. You’re fine.’’

Max smiled softly at the kind reassurance he got from Daniel and nodded softly. ‘’Yeah, alright. Anyway, I gotta go. Bradley’ll be here soon and I need to get ready.’’ He told the Aussie. They said their goodbyes then and ended the call, and Max truly felt a whole lot better. Bradley arrived shortly after for their workout for the day, and after the man had left, it was finally time for Max to get ready for his dinner with Charles. By then, the Monegasque had sent Max his address, asking him to be there around eight. He left instructions with the doorman, so he could just come up straight away.

Max quickly went for another shower, after which he took some time selecting an outfit. After he had finally wasted about 20 minutes on that though, he’d run entirely out of patience. Very annoyed with himself for feeling actually nervous about this dinner, he finally just grabbed a pair of jeans and a dark blue shirt. He put the jeans on and buttoned up the shirt, before he went to fix his hair and stared at himself in the mirror for a little while.

‘’You can do this.’’ He told himself. ‘’It’s just dinner with a friend, nothing more. Just relax.’’ He took a deep breath then and checked the time. He still had some time left before he had to go over, so he passed the time with some more videogames, before he finally made the short walk over to Charles’ apartment. He was let in by the doorman and finally arrived up at 5 minutes to eight, ringing the doorbell and waiting patiently for the Monegasque to open.

He waited a minute or so. Nothing. He rang again. Nothing. After finally holding the bell for a good ten seconds or so, there was finally some noise behind the door, and it opened shortly after. ‘’Finally, are you deaf or som-‘’ Max started, before he suddenly found himself absolutely speechless as he stared at Charles’ form. His half-naked form. 

The Monegasque seemed to be wearing nothing but a fluffy, white towel around his hips. His hair seemed still damp from the shower, and Max’s mouth suddenly felt extremely dry. ‘’You’re early.’’ Charles finally commented with a chuckle. ‘’I was still showering and getting ready.’’ He told the Dutchman. ‘’Come in though, make yourself at home.’’ He added happily, stepping aside so that Max could come in.

The Dutchman in question felt like he was nailed to the floor for the moment, before he finally took a few steps inside. ‘’It’s…almost eight. I’m not that early….’’ He told Charles, who started to laugh again then. ‘’Oh right. I forgot for a moment that you’re from Northern Europe. Maxy, when I say around eight, it’s really more like 8.30 or so.’’ He explained, giving the man a kind smile.

‘’You can look around and get yourself a drink from the kitchen if you like. I’m just gonna finish up in the bathroom and get dressed, because I can’t imagine that you want me to walk around like this all evening.’’ Charles then added, walking off after Max nodded softly in return. Charles had barely left the room, or Max felt like he was having another panic attack. His breathing sped up, and he had to brace himself against the wall a little as he tried to process everything he had just seen. Because he had just seen a hell of a lot. And what was worse, is that he wanted a piece of that. He really, really did.

Charles was so beautiful that it was completely unfair. He had looked to have been chiselled out of a block of marble, trying to create the perfect human man. Max all of a sudden really wasn’t so sure that he could do this anymore. He had wanted to push Charles up against the wall and just kiss the living hell out of him just then. He had wanted to do more than that really, but it was a good place to start.

Once he finally had his breathing and his head somewhat under control again, Max started to move. He was here now, there was no way back. He just had to get through the evening, he could panic at home later on. He ended up making his way through Charles’ apartment while he waited, inspecting everything from the pictures to the furniture to the…questionable art that the Monegasque insisted on putting on his walls. It was quite something and Max’s own apartment paled in comparison.

He finally ended up sitting at the piano, pressing a few keys when he finally heard a familiar voice behind him. ‘’Do you play?’’ Charles asked, smiling brightly as he walked over to join Max and sat down on the bench next to him. He was dressed in black jeans, paired with a white shirt and wearing those nerdy glasses that he owned, and Max thought that he looked absolutely impeccable. 

‘’I…no, I don’t.’’ Max finally said with an apologetic smile. ‘’But I can still appreciate how it looks. It’s a gorgeous piano, Charles.’’ The Monegasque chuckled softly then, nodding in response. ‘’Thank you, I think so too. Would you like to hear something?’’ He asked curiously, and really all that Max could do was nod in response. ‘’Yes. Please…’’ He told the man, quickly getting up and standing aside to give Charles all the room he needed.

Charles chuckled softly at Max’s excitement and took a deep breath. ‘’I’m not that good yet, so don’t judge me.’’ He told the Dutchman, before he gently started to play the most incredibly tune that Max had ever heard in his life. He found himself completely mesmerized by this man, watching his long, slender fingers moving over the keys as his body swayed gently along with the music that he was producing. It was…sexy, was really the only word that Max managed to think of as he watched scene before him. 

When Charles finally stopped playing, Max started to applaud, smiling brightly. ‘’That was amazing.’’ He told the Monegasque honestly. ‘’I’ve got to get you to teach me to play, too.’’ Charles smiled brightly at the compliment that he received and hummed softly as he scooted over to the side a little and patted the bench. ‘’Come, sit. I’ll teach you how to play something.’’ He told the Dutchman.

Max swallowed thickly before he sat down, biting his lip slightly. This was not going to be pleasant. Or possibly way too pleasant. Either way, it would definitely be bad. Charles started to patiently explain to Max where to put his fingers, what keys to press and in which rhythm to do so to create a melody, but somehow the Dutchman just couldn’t get it right. It caused Charles to finally hum. ‘’I’ll help you.’’ He decided, getting up.

Max frowned, confused for a moment, not really understanding what was happening. He watched as Charles suddenly stepped behind him and reached over, pretty much putting his head on Max’s shoulder and his hands on top of the Dutchman’s. Max could actually _smell_ Charles at this point, and he felt like his heart was practically going to give out. He smelled like a mixture of expensive Armani cologne, mint and a hint of vanilla, and it was somehow the most amazing thing that Max had ever smelled.

He was incredibly distracted by it, and Max was really only taken out of that headspace when he felt the Monegasque’s fingers gently moving and guiding his own. ‘’Just like this.’’ Charles then whispered into his ear and fuck…Max was just so far gone for this man. He could barely focus at all, just stared at their fingers as they slowly moved around the piano as one. He imagine what it would be like to hold that hand. To gently play with those fingers as they laid in bed together. How they would feel around his…

Charles gently guided Max through an easy tune, smiling brightly when they managed to finish it. ‘’There you go, well done!’’ He said excitedly, though he did not move away at all yet. ‘’Thank you. That was…nice.’’ As he answered, Max turned his face towards Charles a little, and found him to be almost impossible close. Really, he would only have to lean forwards the tiniest bit to close the distance between their lips and-BUZZZZZZZZZZ.

Max was ripped from his fantasy as the buzzing of the doorbell loudly rang through the apartment, and Charles quickly pulled away then with a grin. ‘’Oh, that’ll be dinner.’’ He said excitedly, chuckling when he saw Max’s expression. ‘’I’m not an amazing cook and I wanted us to have something nice, so I made a few calls and got them to deliver us a three course meal.’’ He explained, giving the Dutchman a wink as he left the living room to get the door.

Max let out a trembling sigh, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans as he swallowed thickly and chewed on his lip for a moment. This was so much worse than he had thought. All he could think about was kissing Charles. Taking him to bed. Enjoying each other’s bodies all night long to then finally…. ‘’Max, you coming?!’’ Charles called out then from the dining room, and Max swallowed thickly. Yeah…that.


	5. Tarte Tatin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still absolutely overwhelmed by the response that this fic is getting! Thank you all so, so, so much. All of your amazing comments make my heart feel so full <3
> 
> Now, new chapter! Featuring actual food at this dinner! A movie! A blanket! And innuendo. Exciting stuff.
> 
> Really hope that you guys enjoy this one, and I'm incredibly sorry (not sorry) for the ending :D

‘’Max, you coming?’’ Charles called out, and Max swallowed thickly as he came back to his senses. He had to take another deep breath, steadying himself a little more before getting up and following Charles’ voice over to the dining room, where the table was already set, and there was even a little menu placed on each of their plates. ‘’Oh wow, you took this very seriously.’’ The Dutchman noted with a bit of a chuckle, while Charles just smiled happily.

‘’I did! I wanted to have a nice evening and so I hired caterers who could make sure that the food would be amazing.’’ Charles answered, watching as Max sat down at the table and picked up his menu. ‘’Okay…so I can figure out what soupe à l’oignon and…something with pasta are by myself, but what in the name of all that is French is a tarte tatin?’’ The Dutchman asked curiously as he looked over at Charles, who just started laughing. 

‘’Right, sorry. I should have remembered that you don’t actually speak French.’’ Charles sat as he joined Max at the table. ‘’A tarte tatin is sort of a flipped apple pie. It’s amazing, you’re going to love it.’’ He told the Dutchman happily. He smiled even wider when a man walked in with a bottle of wine, and hummed softly when it was poured for them. ‘’Merci, Jean.’’ He told the man. ‘’Nous sommes prêts pour le premier cours.’’ He added, and the man nodded politely before he left.

‘’I hate it when people speak in languages I don’t understand.’’ Max said as soon as Jean had left the dining room. ‘’It always make me feel like they’re gossiping about me. It’s super uncomfortable.’’ He told Charles, a bit of a pout on his face as he spoke. His words made Charles laugh again, and the Monegasque reached for his glass. ‘’I just asked him to bring out the first course, Maxy. Nothing for you to worry about. Now, shall we toast?’’ He asked the man, smiling wide when Max nodded.

Charles thought of what to say for a moment, before he finally clinked his glass with Max’s. ‘’To new relationships.’’ The Monegasque decided. Max by then had already started to take a sip, and he nearly started to choke on it after hearing Charles’ words, putting his glass back down and coughing into his elbow a few times, his face all red from both the exertion and embarrassment over the little freak out at Charles’ words.

God…a relationship…What would that even be like? They were in rival teams, they could never…right? No. It’s like Dan said. Just a crush. Nothing more. He might want to do nothing more than to take Charles to bed and absolutely fuck his brains out then and there, but a relationship…that was way too gay.

‘’I’m fine…’’ Max finally wheezed, really only getting redder when Charles leaned over to pat his back a little. ‘’Are you sure? Do you want some water?’’ The Monegasque asked, looking very worried when Max finally managed to turn his head and looked at Charles’ face. God, he really looked pretty no matter what kind of face he was pulling. It was extremely frustrating.

He finally managed to shake his head and slowly sat back up, giving Charles a smile. ‘’I really am fine, Charles. Thank you.’’ He assured the Monegasque, who gave Max a smile in return before slowly sitting back down. There was a bit of a silence between them, only broken when Jean returned to the room, carrying two deep plates filled with amazing smelling, delicious looking, French onion soup. 

‘’Merci.’’ Max told Jean when the man put his plate down in front of him, and Charles chuckled softly when the man had left again. ‘’It’s cute that you try.’’ He told the Dutchman, before he lifted his spoon and started to eat his first course. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Did Charles think that he was cute? Should they just start making out already then? A plethora of thoughts went through Max’s mind, and he had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to stop his brain from spiralling out of control.

He finally started eating too then, humming pleasantly at the first taste. ‘’This is amazing.’’ He told Charles, genuinely surprised by how good it was. ‘’I mean, I’ve had onion soup before, but nothing like this.’’ He noted, and Charles just chuckled along in amusement. ‘’You’ve never had the genuine French version.’’ He teased with a smile. ‘’French cuisine is as good as it gets after all.’’

Max laughed a little at that, humming as he glanced at the menu again. ‘’Aren’t we having pasta for our second course? You know, the most Italian of all foods?’’ He asked Charles, who seemed to fondly roll his eyes a little. ‘’We have to watch what we eat and every French option that they had was way too much. This we can handle.’’ The Monegasque retorted. ‘’But don’t worry,’’ He added, looking over at Max with a happy smile. ‘’You’ll get a real taste of France for dessert.’’

Max was genuinely thankful that he hadn’t taken a sip of wine when Charles said those words, because he really thought that he might’ve died on it if he had. He had to know what he was doing, right? Nobody could use that much innuendo and act so flirtatiously around someone without knowing…right? Or maybe Charles was just incredibly French, and was just being his usual overly-friendly, touchy self.

They finished their first course soon enough, and after Jean had taken their plates away and had given them a refill of wine, Charles sat back and watched Max for a moment. ‘’Can I ask you something?’’ He asked curiously, making Max frown. ‘’Nobody ever asks first if they’re going to ask something non-controversial, so I’m already worried, but yes…’’ The Dutchman finally replied, watching Charles closely.

‘’Why are you always so antagonistic in your interviews? You always say something controversial, or throw people of, or make someone else mad at you. It’s never just…boring. Why?’’ Charles asked curiously. Max was about to get angry, to tell Charles to concern himself with his own media-trained to death self, but what he saw in the Monegasque’s eyes as he looked into them wasn’t what he expected. It didn’t look like Charles was just trying to start an argument, he looked genuinely interested in what Max had to say. It caught him off-guard.

‘’I…’’ The Dutchman started, looking for his words for a moment. ‘’I don’t know…?’’ He finally said. ‘’I just hate media training with a passion, I guess. I just want to always say what I think, even if it’s controversial. It’s what I think and I don’t really see why I would have to hide those thoughts and feelings.’’ He finally explained to Charles, who hummed softly. ‘’I think it’s brave.’’ He told Max. ‘’I mean, I can’t do it. The Ferrari higher-ups would have my head if I spoke my mind all the time. So I just say whatever I need to in order to not come off as rude and then I move on.’’

‘’Yeah your interviews tend to be so boring that they’re barely worth watching.’’ Max teased in return, but Charles picked up on something very different. ‘’You watch my interviews?’’ He asked curiously, and Max’s eyes slightly widened at the question. ‘’I…just…you know…when you DNF and watch the rest of the race you sometimes see an interview…’’ He tried to play it off.

It looked like Charles was going to continue on this, but Max was saved by their main course being brought into the room for them to enjoy. ‘’Ooohh, this looks beautiful.’’ He noted, giving Charles a bright smile. ‘’Really, thanks for organizing a dinner like this, Charles. I’d figured you would just make us a salad or something, but this is genuinely amazing.’’

Charles laughed at Max’s words, and he reached out to put his hand on Max’s arm in what the Dutchman was pretty sure was a friendly gesture. ‘’Of course! I wanted to make a good impression for the first time that you come and see me. I couldn’t just cook you up some white pasta or something like that.’’ He told the man, before digging into his meal.

The food was absolutely incredible, and Max was genuinely starting to fear that he didn’t want to have anything else to eat after this. ‘’So, it’s just a first impression then?’’ He asked Charles, who looked a little confused. ‘’We can’t make this a regular thing or something, with me coming over every week for an incredible meal like this?’’ He asked, a wide smile on his face to show Charles that he really was just kidding.

It made the Monegasque laugh, and he shrugged. ‘’Who knows. Play your cards right and I might have you over again sometime.’’ He told Max happily, finishing his glass of wine and his course just after. ‘’Are you busy tomorrow, or would you like to stay after dinner?’’ Charles suddenly asked then, and Max paused for a moment as he lifted his last bite of pasta up to his mouth.

‘’Uhm…yeah, sure. What do you want to do…?’’ He asked the Monegasque, chewing on his final bite as he waited for an answer. ‘’Well I was thinking we could just finish the wine we started and watch some movie or something. With the whole covid thing still going around I don’t really get to hang out with my other friends anymore, so some company sounds really nice to me.’’ Charles explained then with a sweet smile.

Max hummed softly in return, nursing the wine that he still had in his glass as he looked over at Charles. ‘’Yeah, that sounds nice. To be honest, all my friends are still up in Holland and Belgium, so I didn’t hang out much down here anyway besides Dan, but just spending some time in company sounds really good to me, too.’’

Charles smiled brightly at the positive answer that he got from Max, getting up then to retrieve another bottle of wine from the kitchen. ‘’This one is better than the last one.’’ He told the Dutchman as he opened it. ‘’The Princess of Monaco gave this to me, I think. I wanted to save it for a special occasion.’’ He explained as he poured them both a glass.

Charles’ explanation made Max frown a little, and he hummed as he looked at the Monegasque. ‘’Then why are you using it now…?’’ He asked, confused. Charles laughed in return, grabbing his glass and lifting it. ‘’Because if me spending a really nice evening with Max Verstappen after being enemies for years isn’t a special occasion, I don’t know what is.’’ He said, grinning as he took a sip.

Max giggled a little in response. He didn’t usually drink wine, and he found that just the two glasses that he’d had were already giving him a nice feeling. Their plates were taken away soon after, only to be replaced by a slice of something that Max did very much recognize. ‘’Charles, this really is just apple pie. You and the other French can say what you like, but this tar titty of yours really is just apple pie.’’ He told the Monegasque as he started to laugh.

Charles giggled along with the Dutchman, looking very amused at how just entertained Max seemed to be with his pie. ‘’Yes, fine. Tarte tatin is some pretentious French apple pie. But it’s still super good and you’re going to be amazed by it!’’ He assured his friend, who hummed softly and finally took a bite, only to fall back in his chair as he tasted it. ‘’Oh my god, Charles. What are you doing to me?’’ He asked, closing his eyes for the moment as he savoured the taste. 

‘’I genuinely hate you for letting me have this delicious food, knowing that it’s bad for me and I’m going to crave it forever now.’’ Max finally mumbled, before he gasped. ‘’Are you trying to sabotage me for the next season?!’’ He demanded, making Charles laugh. ‘’Yes, Maxy. I am sabotaging you by inviting you to my house and having dinner with you and having a nice time. Totally what’s happening.’’

‘’Knew it.’’ Max just mumbled in return, still chuckling a little as he ate the rest of his food. When they both finally finished, they had also finished their third glass of wine each, and they were laughing happily as these last plates were taken back to the kitchen. ‘’Alright, alright.’’ Charles said, finally getting and walking closer to Max, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently. ‘’Why don’t you go ahead to the living room and find us a nice movie? I’ll make sure the caterers get out alright.’’ He told the Dutchman.

Max nodded in return, lingering for a moment after Charles touched his shoulder, before he finally got up. He walked over to the living room, taking a few deep breaths to try and put himself back together a little. He really wanted to just curl up with Charles under a blanket on the couch now, snuggling together and maybe sneaking a little kiss here and there between important scenes. But he really needed to put these kinds of fantasies out of his head.

It wasn’t going to happen. It could never happen. And he just had to deal with that, no matter how much it was going to hurt. Max finally sat down on Charles’ two-seater couch, grabbing the remote and figuring out how to work it for a moment, before he managed to turn the thing on and navigated over to Netflix to find them a movie to watch. When he couldn’t find anything he liked, he went to Prime Video, and then finally to Disney Plus. When he got there, he instantly gasped as he found the movie of his choice, one that he had wanted to see for ages. They were going to watch Alien.

Max started the movie, letting the intro credits roll before he finally paused the movie at the proper start. He waited for Charles then, with the Monegasque joining him a few minutes later, carrying their glasses and the bottle of wine. ‘’Oh, you found something!’’ He said excitedly, sitting down next to Max after putting their glasses down. ‘’What is it?’’

Max bit his lip a little as Charles sat down next to him. The Monegasque was sitting very close at his side, and part of him wanted to wrap an arm around the man and cuddle him close. He managed to hold himself back though, finally just smiling over at him. ‘’You’ll see. I’ve wanted to see this one for a long time. I’m really excited.’’ He told Charles happily.

That seemed to be enough for the Monegasque, and he settled in to watch the movie. It looked pretty old, and Max could see Charles starting to frown as the movie started and ran for a couple of minutes. ‘’Maxy…is this a scary movie?’’ The Monegasque asked quietly, and Max really couldn’t hide the little smile that appeared on his face.

It made Charles’ mouth drop, and he looked a little shocked. ‘’You were going to have me watch a scary movie without warning?!’’ He demanded, huffing a little. ‘’Unbelievable.’’ He added, shaking his head as he moved closer to Max, pulling his legs up onto the couch and snuggling up to Max’s side, with his head lying pretty much against the Dutchman’s shoulder.

‘’What are you…?’’ Max asked quietly, sitting there completely frozen. He had no idea what was happening, his brain had completely short-circuited from the moment that Charles had started moving closer to him. ‘’Well, you decided that we were going to watch this movie, and I’m deciding to use you for safety in case I get scared.’’ Charles simply replied, giving Max a small smile before he reached over to the coffee table, grabbing a big, fluffy blanket from underneath it and draping it over the both of them.

Max could still not believe that this was actually a thing that was happening right now. He didn’t know whether this was a blessing, because he had been thinking about this exact scene from the moment that Charles had said the word movie, or that it was a curse, because he absolutely, fully, could not handle this at all. He didn’t know what to do with his hands. Whether to touch Charles, to comfort him, to gently play with his hair…

In the end, Max finally draped his arm around Charles on top of the blanket, making it seem like it was just resting there. It just also happened to be around the beautiful Monegasque. They stayed like that throughout most of the movie. There was the occasional scare happening, but they managed to handle most of them, although both of them had the occasional yelp here and there. It was finally after about 75 minutes, that Charles screamed so hard at the first jump scare of the actual Alien that it felt to Max like he actually jumped up from the couch. 

Charles basically rolled himself over in mid-air, burying his face in Max’s chest and trembling as the Dutchman wrapped both of his arms tightly around him. Max chuckled softly to himself, rubbing Charles’ back a little as he tried to get the man to relax. ‘’It’s alright, Charles. That was absolutely fucking terrifying. But we’re okay now. We’re okay.’’ He said quietly.

It was then that Charles slowly lifted his head, looking up at Max with those big, seemingly endless green eyes of his. He was so close that Max was sure he could count every single facial hair on him if he was given the time, and he had the cutest little pout on his face as he slowly stopped trembling.

‘’Hi…’’ Charles finally whispered, his eyes seemingly darting back and forth between Max’s eyes and his lips. 

Fuck…was this really happening? Max was pretty sure that he had to be dreaming, because this could not actually be a thing that was happening right now. And yet it was. 

Max bit down on his lip for a moment, his gaze drifting down to Charles’ lips, watching intently as the Monegasque’s tongue darted out for just a second to wet them. 

‘’Hey…’’ He finally whispered in return. 

His gaze returned to Charles’ eyes then, staring deep into them as he, ever so slowly, started to gently lean forward.


	6. Greek Tragedy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for all of your amazing, lovely comments on the last chapter! It makes me so happy to hear that people are excited about this story and the characters and where it's all going! Love you all <3
> 
> In this chapter: A Greek Tragedy, a phone call, visiting a friend and his *gasp* LOVER?!
> 
> Hope you enjoy! :D

Max slowly leaned in towards Charles, closing his eyes as he got tantalizingly close to pressing his lips against the Monegasque’s. He could practically feel the man’s presence so impossibly close to him, all he had to do now was close the final bit of distance between th-BUZZZZZZZ BUZZZZZZZ BUZZZZZ.

The entire moment was suddenly disrupted as Max’s phone went off, and he could feel Charles instantly moving away from him. The Dutchman inwardly let out a loud, frustrated groan, opening his eyes again to fish his phone out of his pocket and see who the hell had planned on ruining what might have been one of the most special moments of his entire life. Daniel. Daniel fucking Ricciardo. Max had half a mind to curse him with the worst things known to man, but he couldn’t. Not with Charles right there.

So he finally just answered, having to swallow his anger down before speaking up. ‘’Daniel. What is it? Are you dying?’’ He demanded, sounding as monotone and neutral as he possibly could at the moment, while still trying to make it clear to Daniel that he better really be dying, or there’d be hell to pay. Apparently, it didn’t get through. ‘’Oohhh Maxy, hi.’’ Daniel replied, followed by a loud sigh. ‘’According to my infallible logic, you were either not going to pick up if you were getting it on with Charlie, or you would pick up if you were being sad at home. So I’m guessing that your super special date went a little less than ideal then?’’ He asked curiously.

Max properly facepalmed then, sighing deeply as Charles watched him with a seemingly amused smile. ‘’Dan, if you want to talk, I’ll just call you when I get back home, yeah? I’m still at Charles’ place.’’ He told the Aussie. That was the moment that the penny finally seemed to drop. ‘’O-oooohh…I didn’t…’’ Daniel said, clearing his throat a little. ‘’Yeah, I mean. Go get ‘em tiger, I guess.’’ He told his friend, before Max quickly ended the call.

‘’Sorry, Daniel is just a little needy sometimes. But I’m here now, with you.’’ Max told Charles. The Monegasque was still cuddled up to his side, and Max’s arm was still around his waist, but somehow things felt different. Like the moment had passed. They had had one chance to do this, and now it was gone.

Max only really knew for sure that the moment had gone when Charles gave him a small smile, before he slowly pulled away and got up. The movie was still playing in the background, but they both knew that neither of them really cared about it anymore. ‘’I think I’m going to call it a night then.’’ Charles told the Dutchman. ‘’I need to get up pretty early to do some stuff…’’ He said, sounding extremely non-committal and vague as he spoke.

Max couldn’t stop the sigh that escaped him, and he nodded gently as he got up from the couch. ‘’Yeah, me too.’’ He told Charles then, a bit unsure of what exactly to do now, before Charles just hugged him close. ‘’I had a really fun night, Maxy. I hope that we can do this again sometime soon.’’ He was smiling as he pulled away, and Max made sure to return it, before he started to move towards the door. 

‘’I had fun, too.’’ Max told his friend, chuckling softly as he remembered something. ‘’Thanks a lot for the piano lesson, although I don’t think that I really have any talent for it.’’ He told the Monegasque, making him laugh. ‘’You just have to practice more. I’m sure you can learn it.’’ He told him with a kind smile. ‘’We’ll talk soon, Maxy. Goodnight.’’ With that, Charles opened the door and let Max out, giving the Dutchman a little wave before he closed the door again between them.

As soon as the door was closed, Max closed his eyes and let out a long, deep, exasperated sigh. He had been completely overwhelmed in there. Had lost himself from the moment that he had stepped into that apartment. The touches, the smiles, and just Charles’ looks in general, it had all been way too much to handle. He started to slowly walk home then, going through pretty much the entire evening again in his mind.

The piano lesson, which had somehow been both the sexiest and most romantic thing that Max had ever experienced. He just couldn’t forget the feeling of Charles’ hands on his own, gently moving them over the keys. The dinner, which was just incredible and flawless. And the movie. The cuddling on the couch. Charles’ head resting ever so gently on his shoulder. And then…the kiss that almost was. Max swallowed thickly as he relived it. He couldn’t stop thinking about Charles’ lips. How soft they would be. How sweet they looked. How much he wanted to be the one responsible for the corners of those lips curling up into a smile.

He really was home before he know it, so lost in thought that he didn’t even really remember the walk. He closed the door behind himself and laid down on the couch with a long groan. He instantly called Daniel back then, putting the phone on speaker and putting it on his chest as he waited for the Aussie to answer him. As soon as he heard the call connecting and Daniel scrambling to get into position to talk, he went off.

‘’I fucking hate you so much, you absolute fucking dipshit!’’ Max exclaimed. ‘’I was…I was so close…you don’t even…AAAAARRRGGHHHHH!’’ He let out. It stayed silent for a moment on the other end of the line, before Daniel started to chuckle a little. He was used to Max’s tantrums by now, so they didn’t really bother him at all anymore. ‘’You’re adorable.’’ He told his friend.

‘’First you don’t even accept that you have the biggest crush on mister sex icon and now you’re angry with me for not letting you hit that. It would be funny if you weren’t such a Greek tragedy personified.’’ Daniel told Max, who rolled his eyes. ‘’Daniel.’’ He stated, absolutely dead-serious. ‘’I was about half a second away from kissing him when you called. I’m not joking. Your timing was the worst thing that has ever happened to me.’’

Max was pretty sure that he could hear Daniel’s jaw dropping at that revelation. ‘’Oh my fucking god. You were going to kiss?’’ The Aussie asked excitedly. ‘’That’s…that’s pretty huge mate, truth be told. For you, not for Charlie, obviously. He’s done that kind of thing before. I’m so happy that you stopped being such a prude and accepted that you want to make out with a cutie who just happens to be a guy!’’ He said excitedly.

Max groaned at that, rubbing his face a little as he listened to Daniel. ‘’I dunno…I still think that it’s just Charles. He’s just so unbelievably fucking pretty and I…I can’t, Dan. He was so sweet and gentle and kind and fucking perfect and I can’t stand it. I just wanted to constantly slam him against the wall and kiss him. You have no idea how hard it was to control myself.’’

‘’Knowing you, I can imagine it.’’ Daniel said, laughing a little to himself as he smiled brightly. ‘’When’s your second date then?’’ He added, making Max groan. ‘’Fuck off. I don’t even know how Charles feels about me. He probably doesn’t like me in the same way that I think I like him and he might have just wanted to kiss me because we both had a little too much wine and he might hate himself right now for doing it.’’ 

Max was ranting a little, and Daniel just let him get it all out of his system before he replied. ‘’Calm down, Maxy. Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to have a good night’s sleep tonight, and then tomorrow, somewhere around say…lunchtime, you can send Charles a single text to tell him that you had a really good time. That’s all. We don’t want to sound too needy here. Wingman Dan has got your back.’’

Daniel’s words made Max sigh deeply. ‘’You know that I just want to call him right now to tell him that I really want to do this again and to hear his pretty accent again, right…?’’ He asked the Aussie, who started chuckling a little again at that. ‘’I know, Maxy. But you have to trust me on this. Nobody likes the person who throws themselves at you.’’

‘’Yeah, I guess you’re right.’’ Max finally replied, sighing again as he stared up at the ceiling. ‘’I just…It’s not even that I want to just kiss him and fuck him or whatever. We were cuddling on the couch after dinner, watching a movie together and I…I just couldn’t stop thinking about how nice that was. How amazing it would be to have someone who completely understands what you’re going through when you’re in a mood about the race weekend, you know? Who gets how hard it can be sometimes and knows exactly what you need. It felt really nice.’’

It stayed silent for a little while, and Max started to nervously chew on his lip again. ‘’Am I sounding insane? I am, right? Fuck how…how am I this gone for him, Daniel? I just don’t understand.’’ He whined, groaning as he closed his eyes and put his hands over his eyes to try and avert himself from the world.

On the other end of the line, Daniel finally hummed. ‘’I don’t really think that I’m the person to talk to about this anymore, Maxy.’’ He finally said. ‘’What…?’’ Max asked quietly, his hands falling to the side again as he looked down at his phone. ‘’But you said that we could always…’’ He started, interrupted by Daniel sighing.

‘’I know what I said. And I want to help you. But I’m good as a wingman to maybe have some casual sex with Charlie and get your crush over with. This…This sounds like it’s more than that, mate.’’ Daniel told Max, sounding a little more serious than he had so far. ‘’I think that you should maybe call Alex in the morning, talk to him about how he and George went about it.’’ He informed the Dutchman. ‘’You know that I’m not an expert on relationships, especially ones within the paddock. But they are. And I know you’re closer to Alex than you are to George, so I would suggest going to him.’’

Max listened to Daniel in silence for a moment, biting on his lip as he swallowed thickly. ‘’But that would mean telling another person…and Alex would tell George…’’ He said quietly. ‘’It’s your choice, Maxy.’’ Daniel replied immediately. ‘’Don’t do it if you feel uncomfortable, but I’m just saying. Let me restate that it’s 2021 and nobody in their right mind will give a flying fuck that you’re a little bit bi for our Armani model. Everybody in their right mind is.’’

‘’I guess so, yeah…’’ Max finally said. ‘’I’ll think about it.’’ He decided. ‘’And I’m going to bed now. Because this has been an extremely stressful and tiring evening and I feel like I might crash on the couch if I don’t get to bed right now.’’ Daniel chuckled again at Max’s words. ‘’Alright, Maxy. I hope you have a good night’s sleep and let me know if you make a decision whether or not to talk to Alex. Let me know if you need anything else, yeah? I’m always here for you.’’ The Aussie assured his friend.

‘’Thanks, Dan. As always.’’ Max told his friend, before they ended their call for the night. The Dutchman sighed deeply as he put his phone away, silently turning all the lights in the apartment off as he got ready for the night. After undressing and finishing up in the bathroom, Max finally found himself in bed, staring at his phone again as he had Charles’ chat window open. He wanted to say something so bad, but he knew Dan was right. He shouldn’t. Not yet.

It took him another minute to gather his courage, but he finally closed Charles’ chat, and opened the chat with Alex.

_Hey mate, you well? Are you back in Monaco by now? I’d really like to meet up and talk to you about something_

He pressed send before he could have any second thoughts about doing this, and put his phone away after that, just staring at the ceiling again in the darkness. Max hated that he was like this. He felt like such a schoolboy with a crush again on the hottest person in class, and it was the absolute worst. And yet, as he fell asleep, he couldn’t stop imagining what it would be like to fall asleep with Charles right next to him.

***

When Max woke up the next morning, he found that he was subconsciously reaching towards the other side of the bed. The empty side. He groaned a little at how stupid he was already acting again so early in the morning, and remembered flashes of his dreams. A domestic life with Charles. Kissing him, cuddling him, holding hands with him. He let out a long, deep sigh at that, before finally reaching for his phone. There were a number of notifications that showed, but one of them was of particular interest, a text from Alex.

 _Hi! I’m great, thanks. Yeah, back in Monaco. I’m home all day today, so you can come over whenever, although your message does sound a bit ominous…_

Max couldn’t help but smile a little at the reply he got, humming softly and typing out a quick message in return before he got up. 

_Awesome! I’m gonna go for my morning run and have some food and I think I’ll be there towards the end of the morning_

Max spent the rest of the morning like he had said. Running, showering, eating his breakfast. He finally showed up at Alex’s place around 11.30, being buzzed up and giving the man a hug as he opened the door. ‘’Hey, mate.’’ Max said happily, pulling away with smile. Alex was about to reply, but there suddenly rang a loud ‘’BABE?! Where’d you go?!’’ Through the apartment and Alex started chuckling a little as he smiled brightly.

‘’At the door! Max is here like I told you!’’ Alex called back, fondly rolling his eyes as he stepped aside and let Max in. ‘’Excuse that one. He doesn’t ever listen to what anyone tells him, but you get used to it.’’ Alex told the Dutchman, walking into the living room of the apartment with Max. ‘’Can I get you something to drink?’’ He asked, to which Max hummed for a moment. ‘’Just water please, thanks.’’

‘’Geeoooorge!’’ Alex called again then into the apartment. ‘’Can you get Max and I some water please? Thanks!’’ He said, smiling to himself as he sat down in a big, comfortable looking chair. ‘’So what did you want to talk about? You really did sound a little ominous in your text…’’ As Alex spoke, George walked into the room with two bottles of water. He put them both down on the table and gave Max a little wave, before he leaned down to gently kiss Alex, cupping the man’s cheek for a moment before pulling away. ‘’Love you.’’ He whispered, before stepping back.

He was wearing workout clothes, and he started stretching his arms a little as he looked at both Max and his boyfriend. ‘’I’m gonna go out for a run. You boys be good. Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.’’ He told them happily, winking at Alex a final time, before he was off.

‘’That…’’ Max said, biting on his lip again as he watched George exit, before turning back to Alex. ‘’That’s what I want to talk about.’’ He said with a bit of a sigh. A bit of a frown appeared on Alex’s face then, and he crossed his arms as he sat back in his chair. ‘’You want to talk to me about George?’’ He asked the Dutchman, sounding a little apprehensive.

‘’What? No. I mean the relationship that you two have.’’ Max quickly clarified, but that really didn’t help matters much. ‘’You want to talk about our relationship? Why? Is something bothering you about it?’’ Alex asked, the frown on his face only deepening as he stared at his friend.

‘’No, no, that’s not what I meant at all.’’ Max quickly added, his palms feeling a little sweaty as Alex scrutinized him. ‘’I just…I mean…I want to talk to you about having a relationship in the paddock. What it’s like.’’ He told the man. Alex’s expression softened visibly when Max finally explained what he wanted, and he leaned forward a little. ‘’Ooohhh, that I can do. But you know a relationship between drivers, or just plain men for that matter, is very different to dating, oh I don’t know…someone from another team’s PR office?’’

Max closed his eyes for a second when Alex talked about the different nature of relationships, and he took a deep breath before he finally decided it would really just be easiest if he came clean. ‘’Promise me that you won’t tell anyone this. Not even George.’’ He told Alex. The man frowned slightly again, but finally nodded in return. ‘’I… the reason that I wanted to talk to you about this is because of the person that I might like to maybe try and date. Because you’re an expert on the subject.’’ Max explained to Alex.

The Dutchman’s words made Alex hum a little, and he raised an eyebrow. ‘’Max there are a lot of different scenarios going through my head right now, and I appreciate the suspense that you’re building, but it might really just be a lot easier for both of us if you tell me who it is…’’

Max groaned a little at that, and he closed his eyes for a moment. ‘’It’s…it’s…Fuck, I just have to say it. It’s Charles, okay? I want to date Charles.’’

It was silent after that, and Max only dared to look over at Alex again when it has lasted so long he feared the man had had a stroke from the sheer shock of the news. He found that Alex was staring at him with his mouth open, his eyes wide in disbelief. ‘’Oh my fucking god…’’ The Thai finally whispered. ‘’That’s…….wow.’’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I introduced George/Alex! Sue me! (No really don't though)
> 
> I just love them so much that I can't not do it. <3


	7. I Want What You Have

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapteeeeer!
> 
> I really hope that you'll all love George/Alex as much as I do after reading this, because I am so hopelessly in love with those two <3  
> At least Alex is gonna be at the track in some capacity this season, so maybe we'll get some content... ):

‘’Oh my fucking god…’’ Alex whispered as he stared at Max with wide eyes. ‘’That’s…….wow.’’ He told the Dutchman. ‘’What is…since when do you like Charles of all people? I thought that you hated him…’’ He looked shocked as he spoke, like he genuinely couldn’t believe what Max was telling him. Like he sort of believed that this was all some kind of weird joke.

‘’I…I don’t hate him…I actually think that I have liked him for a little while now. I just…I didn’t realize it until a couple of days ago.’’ Max explained to Alex, giving him a small smile. ‘’And I talked to Dan about it and he helped me accept myself the way that I am, but…he gave me the advice to come and talk to you. Because you have the experience dating in the paddock with George.’’

Max sighed when he finished speaking, feeling incredibly uncomfortable talking openly about a subject like this. ‘’So you want to really date Charles? Does he feel the same way? Do you know?’’ Alex asked curiously then. ‘’To be honest, I always thought that you were going to end up being like friends with benefits or something with Daniel. You guys always gave of that kind of energy. I never thought it could be Charles…’’

Max rolled his eyes a little at Alex’s words about Daniel, and bit his lip a little as he looked down at his restless fingers. ‘’Yes, yes I want to. I don’t know how he feels. I was…I was with him last night. We had dinner together at his place, and he cuddled up to me when he watched a movie…We even almost kissed I think, but Dan called me and interrupted us. So…I don’t know for sure how he feels, but…I want to know what to do if he does.’’

Alex hummed softly in return to Max’s words, sitting back in his chair and crossing his legs, pulling at his sock a little as he thought about what the Dutchman was asking him. ‘’So what exactly do you want to know then?’’ He finally asked curiously. ‘’Because, like, I could tell you all about how much I love dating George, and how amazing it is to be able to see him all the time, and to have someone who knows what you’re going through, but I could do that for hours and I don’t know what you want to hear from me.’’

‘’How did you do it?’’ Max finally asked. ‘’Weren’t you afraid of the looks, the whispers, the resentment, the hate?’’ He asked Alex, who sighed a little, before he finally shrugged. ‘’I won’t lie to you, Max. Of course I was scared. Terrified, even. But at the end of the day, I love George more than I fear any of those things. And so he won. He’ll always win.’’ He said, a fond smile on his face as he thought about his boyfriend. 

It made Max smile a little, too. ‘’You guys are really cute together.’’ He admitted to Alex. ‘’And…yeah. What you’re saying makes sense. And I guess that if I ever were to maybe possibly at some point in the future have something with Charles, then that would be on the down-low anyway until we’re both ready for it to come out.’’

He realized something then, taking out his phone and holding it up as he looked at Alex. ‘’So, I need to text Charles. Tell him that last night was great and that we should do it again…or something. Dan told me to wait until now so that I don’t look too desperate. Is that a good idea?’’ 

The way that Max was acting made Alex laugh. The Dutchman was usually so cocky, so completely sure of himself, that seeing him like this was something entirely new. ‘’That sounds good to me, yeah. As long as you don’t lay it on too thick and don’t constantly text him all day long, you should be alright.’’ Alex assured the Dutchman.

‘’So…what should I say then?’’ Max continued. ‘’Something like: ‘Hey! Had a really fun time last night! Dinner was super and it was great hanging out with you!’ ?’’ He asked the Thai, who hummed a little in return as he thought about it for a moment. ‘’You know, George is a way better smooth talker than I am, but I think that that sounds good, yeah.’’

Max nodded then, smiling a little nervously as he typed the message out exactly like that and sent it over to Charles, who answered pretty much before Max had put his phone in his pocket. ‘’That’s…that’s a good sign, right?’’ He asked Alex when they heard the notification.

It made Alex laugh a little, and the man shrugged. ‘’I don’t know, Max. How about we actually read the text and find out what it says?’’ He suggested with an amused smile. ‘’Yeah. That’s…yeah.’’ Max answered, opening his phone again and opening the chat window with Charles to see what the Monegasque had sent him.

 _‘’Thank yooooouuuuu! :) ‘’_

The text simply read, which made Max frown deeply as he showed the screen to Alex. ‘’Well what the fuck does that mean?’’ The Dutchman demanded, whereas Alex just started laughing loudly. ‘’Oh god. Well it means that you’re trying to date Charles Lerclerc, a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in the body of a Monegasque twink.’’

‘’What…what’s a twink?’’ Max asked with a bit of a frown, and Alex nearly choked on the sip of water he was taking. ‘’Oh…Oh, Max. You have so much to learn.’’ He said, laughing happily at his friend as he recovered from his coughing fit. ‘’You sweet, innocent summer child.’’ He added happily.

The way that Alex was laughing at him made Max blush a little, and he chewed on the inside of his cheek as he waited for the man to finish. ‘’Are you all done?’’ He asked the Thai. ‘’Because maybe then you can help me figure out what the hell Charles’ text is supposed to mean.’’

Alex hummed softly again. ‘’Well, to me it just sounds like he also had a really fun time, and he’s happy that you agree with him. What else did you expect? An invitation to a second date?’’ He asked, teasing a little with a smile on his face as he looked over at Max. ‘’I don’t know…I just thought that he would at least send me more than two words. How am I supposed to react to this?’’ He asked his friend with a bit of pout.

‘’You’re not.’’ Alex finally replied. ‘’You just leave it be for now and then at some later point you’ll send him another text once we’ve…planned out your second date?’’ He turned the latter part of that sentence into a question, and he watched as Max only blushed deeper and bit his lip a little. ‘’Will you please help me?’’ The Dutchman finally asked.

‘’Of course I will!’’ Alex answered happily. ‘’I mean, there’s not a lot of choice here, given that everything is still closed due to covid and the fact that you don’t really wanna go into public, but yeah. Sounds fun.’’ They spent the next hour or so planning out what Max wanted to do, which, when it came down to it, turned out to be extremely similar to their ‘date’ from the day before. 

Really, Max was just planning on making Charles a homecooked dinner, maybe cooking it together and watching a classic romantic movie afterwards, like the Notebook, or Notting Hill. It’d be nice, it’d be romantic, and maybe Max would finally be able to get the kiss that he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about ever since that moment the night before.

His heart seemed to ache for it. His stomach started fluttering whenever his mind drifted back to that moment. The room seemed to heat up as he thought about it, and when he remembered how it felt to have Charles pressed against his side like that, his pants even felt a little tight. It was excruciating, and Max wanted to have him so bad.

George came back from his run pretty much when Max and Alex finished discussing their date plans. The Brit was looking hot and sweaty, and Alex had to bite his lip a little at the sight. He did get up from his seat, walking over to George and wrapping his arms around the man’s neck as he kissed him softly, before he moved over to his ear, whispering into it so Max couldn’t overhear.

Whatever it was, it had to be quite something, because George’s eyes widened a little and his mouth dropped slightly as he stared over at the Dutchman. ‘’Alex, we have a guest!’’ He exclaimed, pushing the Thai off of him a little, before cupping his face in his hands. ‘’I’m going to go take a shower and freshen up, and you should really take a cold shower after that, you minx.’’ He kissed his boyfriend again then, pulling back with a smirk. ‘’But maybe you can make yourself useful until then by making us all some lunch? I promise that tonight we’ll do that thing you like…’’ He said, giving the Thai his best puppy dog eyes until Alex gave in with a groan.

‘’Fine! But we fucking better if you have me playing lunch lady.’’ Alex told his boyfriend, watching him walk away towards their shared bedroom, before he turned back to Max with a sigh. The Dutchman’s mouth was still hanging open a little, and he stared shamelessly at Alex. ‘’That. I want that.’’ He finally said. ‘’That was…both hot and fucking adorable. At the same time. I want that but with Charles.’’

Max’s words made Alex laugh, and he smiled brightly. ‘’Thanks. I just love him, you know?’’ He asked the Dutchman, sighing happily as he heard the shower being turned on. ‘’Now I would honestly love to go and join my boyfriend in there, but I’m still not entirely done fixing your love life, so come on. You can help me make our salad for lunch.’’

Alex set Max to work cutting the tomatoes, cucumber, everything that needed some simply cutting done, really giving him the most simple tasks. He himself went to work baking some chicken to put in their salads, all the while explaining to Max the nature and terminologies of gay relationships and answering his questions, finally ending of course with the explanation of the word ‘twink’.

‘’So it’s an attractive, boyish looking guy then?’’ Max finally asked, just as George joined them again in the kitchen. ‘’We talking about me?’’ He asked curiously, giving the Dutchman a bright smile as he walked up to Alex and hugged the Thai from behind, nuzzling his neck and pressing soft kisses to the skin there. ‘’You smell like…me.’’ He said quietly. ‘’Because you insist on being all over me when I’m sweaty and disgusting, love.’’ He told his boyfriend, who just sighed happily.

Alex smiled to himself, closing his eyes for a second as George kissed his neck. ‘’I just love it when you’re all hot and bothered. You know this about me.’’ He told the Brit, turning around to kiss him properly and look at him. George had just quickly thrown some sweats on, and with his soft, fluffy shower hair he looked very adorable, even from Max’s perspective. ‘’I love you.’’ Alex told George as he looked into his eyes for a moment, before turning back to their food. 

‘’It’s just the chicken and then we can eat.’’ He said happily. The chicken was all done to eat only a few minutes later, and they all sat down together, with Alex looking over at Max. ‘’Can I tell him? I usually tell him everything, but I understand if you don’t want me to…’’ He told his friend, who sighed softly and put his fork back down. ‘’I…’’ he started, considering it for a moment, before nodding softly. ‘’Yeah, go ahead.’’

Alex broke into a bright smile when Max gave him permission, instantly turning to George, who raised an eyebrow. ‘’Is it that big?’’ He asked curiously, while Alex just nodded quickly, very excited to share. ‘’Our Max here has finally admitted that he plays for the other team too and has the biggest crush on Charles fucking Leclerc. It’s adorable. He wanted my help on how to go about all this and some dating advice.’’

Max had thought that George would be shocked at the very least, but instead he just started to laugh. ‘’And you’re asking Alex for dating advice? My Alex? The guy who understands the subtlety of romance so well that I pretty much have to shove it in his face anytime I want him to notice?’’ George continued to chuckle to himself, shaking his head. 

‘’Charles though, really? I thought it’d be Dan. But good on you, mate. I’m sure that Charlie boy will say yes in a heartbeat when you ask him to go out with you.’’ George added, giving Max an encouraging smile as he reached over and patted his shoulder. ‘’Oh, why are you so sure?’’ Max asked in return, finally getting to his salad now as he looked over at George.

‘’Oh, I don’t know. I just know that Charles has played for our team too from time to time and you guys have always had this weird attraction to each other. It might turn out to be something more than just opposites attracting though. We’ll see.’’ The Brit told Max, who seemed somewhat satisfied with that answer. 

They made just small talk after that as they ate their salads, and the way that George and Alex kept looking at each other throughout made Max think that perhaps he wasn’t as welcome anymore as he used to be. He took his leave after they’d finished eating, giving Alex a tight hug and thanking him for all of his help. 

Max was deep in thoughts as he walked through Monaco, deciding to extend the route from Alex’s to his own place a little to get some air and put things into perspective. What he didn’t expect, was for someone to suddenly run into the side of him as he walked through the city, sending him falling to the ground. ‘’HEY! WHAT THE FUCK?’’ 

Max was currently almost flat on the ground, looking up at whoever it was that had decided it was apparently a good day to die today. The sun was shining right into his eyes, and so Max had to use his hand a little to block out the light. When he did, he finally saw an almost angelic face, looking down at him from between the rays, a worried expression on his face as he took his earphones out. ‘’Oh god, Maxy. Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention…’’

Max had to blink a few times, the absolute sheer stupidity of this situation not really coming through to him yet. ‘’Charles…?’’ He finally asked quietly, staring up at the Monegasque with a mixture of shock and disbelief. ‘’How did…why did…?’’ He asked, only really moving again when Charles offered him his hand and helped him up.

‘’You don’t look hurt? Are you hurt? Please tell me you’re okay.’’ Charles just continued, looking the Dutchman up and down, as Max could only stare at Charles. He was wearing a tight, black shirt, paired with similarly coloured shorts. He looked sweaty, his hair looked messy, and he just looked plain fucking hot. Like Max wanted to take him home and do very filthy things to this man, hot.

‘’I…I’m okay.’’ Max finally managed to say. He had to swallow a little as he looked at Charles, letting out a deep breath and pretending to put it on just being knocked over. ‘’If you want, we can run together tomorrow, so you’ll at least have someone to make sure you don’t run into anyone else.’’ He said, the words really out before he realized it. 

It was probably a very bad idea to spend that much time around a hot, sweaty Charles. They had barely gotten their first-ish date out of the way, and this might really all be too much too soon. ‘’Oh, that sounds really nice actually!’’ Charles nonetheless answered, and Max’s own body betrayed him by smiling brightly. ‘’Great! We can shower at my place. I mean, I have a shower you could use and we could hang out afterwards...''

He winced a little at the things he was implying in his words, but Charles didn’t look like he was actually bothered that much. He just dusted Max off a little further, before giving him a wide smile. ‘’Sounds fun to me. We’ll talk details later over text, but it’s a date.’’ He said, giving the Dutchman a wink, before he was off again. 

All Max could do then was stare as Charles ran off, all the while his mind was going absolutely crazy. It’s a date? A DATE?! What the hell did that mean?! What did the wink mean?! AAAAHHHHHHH.


	8. Running

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how we're onto chapter 8 and I'm still completely overwhelmed by the response to this. Even if they're mostly angry at me for torturing you again and again :D
> 
> Anyway, I really hope that you enjoy this one, and I can't wait to hear what you all think of the ending! ;)

Really, Max was off for the rest of the day after that encounter with Charles on the streets. He just couldn’t focus anymore, and ended up constantly screwing up his exercises at home, with Bradley having to berate him more than once, telling the Dutchman to catch some good sleep that night to make sure that he wouldn’t be so out of it next time. 

Max ended up spending the entire evening afterwards on the couch, only perking up again when Charles finally texted him to ask about their run the next day. Charles enjoyed running in the afternoon way more than he did running in the morning, and so Max immediately gave in, doing whatever the Monegasque wanted to do, including changing his entire regular schedule.

**Charles:** So I’ll come over to your place around three and then we can go straight from there into our run.  
**Max:** Yup. Sounds all good to me. You can shower at my place after we’re done if you’d like to hang out. I actually wanted to invite you over for dinner anyway after yesterday at your place was so amazing, so maybe we can combine those if you’d like?  
**Charles:** Oh yeah that’s awesome actually! Only if I get to pick the movie to watch tomorrow night though! I had nightmares about that stupid Alien of yours! :)

Max’s eyes widened as he stared at his phone. He could barely believe what he was seeing. Did Charles really just invite himself over for a movie? Was that a thing that was happening right now? Max had very much hoped that the Monegasque would stay that long, had obviously talked about it before with Alex, but he had figured that he would have to be the one to propose it to Charles, rather than the other way around.

_Deal! See you tomorrow!_

Max let out a deep breath after he’d texted Charles back, staring at the ceiling for a little while to calm his heart down again. It was going crazy even just from texting with the Monegasque, and Max found that he just couldn’t get the man out of his head. He spent the rest of the evening tidying his apartment, cleaning it and making sure that it looked perfect for Charles, because the Monegasque damn well was.

The next day really wasn’t any better. Really all that Max had to do was make sure that he had everything he needed to make dinner for that evening, and after that he just spent the rest of the day on videogames to try and make the time go by, but he just couldn’t get the man out of his head. It was all consuming, and it was all becoming a little too much. He finally changed into his running clothes just before three, and sat down again on the couch then, waiting for Charles to arrive.

Time continued to pass. Five past three, nothing. Ten past, nothing. Twenty past, nothing. At this point, Max started to genuinely worry whether or not he’d show at all. He was constantly checking his phone as the seconds passed, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor, until the doorbell finally rang at 3.28 exactly.

Max shot up from the couch, running over and opening the door, to find a brightly smiling Charles in an equally brightly coloured shirt standing behind it. The Monegasque was wearing a bright red shirt matched with dark blue shorts, and he happily reached over to give Max a hug. ‘’Hi!’’ He said happily.

‘’H-Hi…’’ Max said, looking a little confused still as the Monegasque pulled away again. ‘’You’re…I thought something happened to you. We said three…’’ He said, watching as Charles burst out into laughter. ‘’Maxy, we’ve talked about this before already. When I say ‘around three’ it doesn’t mean I’m committing to being here at exactly three, you know that.’’ He told the man.

Charles started doing a little more stretching then, continuing to give Max a wide smile. ‘’You all ready to go then?’’ He asked curiously, making the Dutchman chuckle as he shook his head. ‘’I was ready half an hour ago, Charles.’’ He replied, an amused smile on his face as he stepped out of the apartment and closed the door behind him. ‘’Come on.’’ He told Charles, heading downstairs with the Monegasque.

As soon as they got outside, Max started his usual lap around the city, with Charles quickly falling into step next to him. Before long, the both of them were dripping with sweat, and Max could barely keep his eyes off of the Monegasque. The man’s shirt was very wet at this point, and it was clinging to his body in the most delicious of ways. Not to even mention the shorts he was wearing. They felt almost a little too short, too revealing, and they showed off Charles’ legs in all the best ways.

It was extremely distracting, and there was more than one instance that Max almost ran into someone because he couldn’t stop himself from looking at Charles. They finally had a bit of a break at the bottom of a hill, catching their breath, and a bit of a lightbulb went off in Max’s head. ‘’So….you wanna race up there?’’ He asked Charles with a smirk. Both of them were competitive little shits after all, so it wasn’t like either of them could really resist a bit of a race.

Charles instantly nodded at the suggestion. ‘’First one up there gets to shower first, the other one has to stay disgusting for longer.’’ He told Max. He took another couple of deep breaths, before he got into position. ‘’Okay, ready? 3, 2, 1, GO!’’ As he called it, Charles shot away, and Max initially had a bit of trouble keeping up. This was a long hill though, and Max hoped that he had a bit more stamina than the Monegasque.

Soon enough, he was starting to catch up. He closed in on Charles, but would it be enough? The top of the hill got closer and closer, and finally, only 10 or so meters from the top, Max finally overtook the Monegasque, throwing his arms up in victory. ‘’I……win…..!’’ He called, breathing heavily before he had to brace himself on his knees. ‘’Jesus Christ…why…did we do that?’’ He asked then, looking over at Charles, who seemed to be in the same state.

‘’Cause we wanna win.’’ The Monegaque finally replied, finally standing up straight again as he regained his breath a little. ‘’Damn, now I have to wait for you to finish showering first.’’ He said with a bit of a pout, and Max couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘’Don’t worry, you even look good all sweaty like this.’’ He assured the man, who raised a bit of an eyebrow in return. ‘’Oh? You think that I look good?’’ Charles asked curiously, a smirk on his lips as he looked at Max.

His sudden question made Max blush a little, and the Dutchman bit his lip for a moment, before he quickly averted his gaze. ‘’I uhm…we should probably head back. We still have dinner to make.’’ He told Charles, who hummed softly at that. ‘’We’re making dinner? I figured knowing you that we were probably just going to order in a pizza or something.’’ Judging by his smile, Charles was clearly teasing, and Max chuckled softly as he fondly rolled his eyes. ‘’Yeah, yeah, I have an image, I’m aware.’’ He agreed as they slowly jogged back to his apartment building. 

When they finally got up, Max let the both of them in, and Charles hummed softly as he looked around. ‘’Oh wow. You know I’ve never been here before, but it’s not at all like I expected…it’s a lot nicer.’’ He said, looking genuinely interested as he instantly walked over to Max’s trophies, even picking a few up to inspect. Anyone else would’ve probably gotten a stern talking to about not fucking touching his trophies, but he somehow just couldn’t bring himself to get angry with the Monegasque.

‘’You go ahead and keep exploring, I’m gonna take a quick shower.’’ Max told the man, before he quickly walked off. He only had one bathroom in the apartment, and so they’d have to share. Max went into his bedroom first, grabbing some fresh underwear, jeans and a black t-shirt, before he slipped into the bathroom and undressed himself.

He stepped into the shower after letting it heat up for a minute, quickly washing himself clean. As he was rinsing out his hair, he closed his eyes, and images of a sweaty, absolutely smoking hot Charles entered his mind once again. God, he was just so fucking pretty. So unbelievably gorgeous, and sweet, and kind, and Max just…He was incredibly close to putting a hand on himself, but he couldn’t. Not only did he not know if he could even stay quiet, but he didn’t want to spend too long in the bathroom, either.

He turned the water off soon after that, drying himself off quickly and putting on some deodorant and cologne before he finally got dressed and left the bathroom. Max found Charles inspecting one of his helmets, and the Monegasque turned around to face the Dutchman when he heard the door. ‘’Oh, my turn!’’ He said happily, quickly rushing past Max and locking the door behind himself.

Charles’ actions made Max chuckle a little, and he went to make sure that all his helmets and trophies were back where they belonged, before heading over to the kitchen to get started on dinner. They were having risotto, so it wasn’t the hardest of meals to make, but Max cooked approximately once a week for himself, and it usually really wasn’t that amazing a meal when he did…

He starting working nonetheless, putting the stock on the fire and baking the rice in a pan on the side. He was about 30 minutes in, when he heard the door to the bathroom opening again, and footsteps coming into his direction. ‘’Hey, all good? You enjoy your sho-‘’ Max started to ask, his eyes widening and his voice instantly giving up on him as he turned around. For the second time in just a few days, Charles was standing half naked in front of him, only a towel around his hips as he pouted a little at Max.

‘’I forgot to bring clothes…’’ The Monegasque said sheepishly. ‘’Can I borrow some off of you…? I don’t want to put those dirty clothes back on to be honest.’’ Charles was still pouting as he finished talking, and really Max just wanted desperately to kiss the pout off of those pretty lips. He couldn’t though. So instead, he just spoke. ‘’Y-yeah, of course. Go to the closet in my bedroom, find whatever you like and throw it on.’’ He told the man, giving him a bit of a smile as Charles stepped forward and hugged Max tightly.

‘’Thank you, Maxy. You’re the best.’’ He informed the Dutchman, before he was off again, heading into Max’s bedroom and closing the door behind. ‘’Fucking hell…’’ Max mumbled to himself, his breathing shaky as he put a hand over his eyes. ‘’That was…fuck…’’ He mumbled, needing to steady himself a little by putting his hand down against the countertop. 

Why did Charles have to be this sexy? Why couldn’t he just be a normal person, who wasn’t driving Max absolutely insane? He had to quickly return to the food then, because he could hear the stock cooking behind him, and if he waited any longer their entire dinner would be ruined. The food was pretty much done by the time that Max heard the bedroom door again, and he had just finished putting the food on their plates and adding the parmesan cheese on top when Charles entered the kitchen.

‘’Great timing, dinner is rea-‘’ As he tried to tell Charles that it was time to eat, the Monegasque apparently insisted on making him absolutely speechless for the second time that evening. As Max looked up and took all of Charles in from bottom to top, he saw that the man was first of all still barefoot, which in itself was pretty sexy. Above that, he was wearing a pair of Max’s old sweatpants, paired with…….a Red Bull sweater. Max’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the sight.

‘’You…that’s…’’ Max started, and Charles started pouting again then. ‘’I know, but it’s the only sweater that I could find in your closet and I wanted to feel nice and comfy.’’ He explained, sighing a little. ‘’If you don’t want me to wear it I can just go and put something else on?’’ He asked, and Max quickly shook his head. ‘’No!’’ He called out, before catching himself and clearing his throat. ‘’I mean…it’s fine.’’ He added quietly, biting his lip a little as he stared near breathlessly at the Monegasque.

He didn’t know what it was, but Charles wearing his clothes, his TEAM clothes, it was just so fucking hot and he couldn’t keep himself from just staring at the man. ‘’So…’’ Charles said after a minute. ‘’Dinner?’’ He suggested, walking over to the plates and taking in the smell. ‘’Mmm, yummy. Well done, Maxy.’’ He added happily.

‘’T-thanks…’’ Max replied, still feeling a little bit overwhelmed as he picked up their plates and started walking them over to the table. ‘’Can you pick a wine to have with dinner? I have loads but I have no idea what’s good and you seem to be a bit more of an expert than I am…’’ 

Charles chuckled softly at Max’s words, nodding softly and heading over to Max’s collection as the Dutchman set the table for them. He finally walked over with a pinot noir, pouring glasses for the both of them before he finally sat down. Dinner was nice, easy and relaxed. Like they had never done differently, and this wasn’t actually only the second time that they sat down together like this.

Given that this wasn’t an extravagant, three course dinner, they finished their food soon enough, and Max cleaned the table while Charles went ahead over to the living room to get settled and pick a movie for them to watch together. Max took their plates back to the kitchen then, rinsing everything off that he had used in the cooking of the dish, while popping some popcorn in the microwave to have later during the movie.

When he finally walked into the living room, carrying a big bowl of popcorn, Charles smiled brightly and patted the spot next to him. He had already found himself a blanket, and looked extremely cute and cozy underneath it. ‘’Well you’ve made yourself at home I see.’’ Max noted, chuckling softly as he sat down next to Charles and humming as the Monegasque cuddled close against his side again.

‘’I have.’’ Charles said happily. ‘’It’s nice, being here with you.’’ He told Max. He was staring up into the Dutchman’s eyes as he spoke, and Max almost felt the same again as he had the previous time that he had held Charles in his arms like this. He cleared his throat a little to get himself out of the moment, giving Charles a smile. ‘’So, what are we watching?’’ He asked curiously.

‘’The Notebook.’’ Charles said happily. ‘’One of the movies on my ‘I haven’t seen but I want to’-list.’’ He told Max as he laughed and set the movie to start playing again. He melted a little more against Max’s side as it started, and sighed happily when the Dutchman wrapped his arm around the man’s waist again. It wasn’t long before Charles’ head was back against his shoulder either, and Max really only had eyes for the Monegasque, rather than the movie.

It wasn’t long before they were half an hour in, out of which Max had spent approximately three minutes not staring at the gorgeous man in his arms. It was around that time, at one of the more romantic moments in the movie, that Charles glanced at Max again, to find the Dutchman staring down at him. He caught Max’s gaze, giving him a gentle smile. ‘’Hi.’’ He whispered then, biting his lip a little.

Max nearly shivered at the sight. Everything that Charles did was infuriatingly hot, and biting his lip was just an even bigger unfair advantage. He really couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He wanted to kiss Charles. Wanted it so unbelievably bad. It felt like his skin was burning and his lips were tingling with anticipation. ‘’Hey…’’ He whispered in return. He kept his left arm around Charles, lifting his right to bring his hand up to the Monegasque’s face, gently pushing his fingers through the man’s soft, post-shower hair.

He felt like he was in trance, completely hypnotized by this man. This beautiful, incredible man in his arms. He couldn’t though. He couldn’t risk it. He was finally building a friendship with Charles, building something after resenting the man for so long. He couldn’t just kiss him, with the risk of ruining everything forever. ‘’Charles…’’ He started, only to have the Monegasque sigh deeply in return.

‘’Maxy, honestly. How many more hints do I have to give you before you finally get over whatever complex you have and finally kiss me?’’

Oh.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also on [ Tumblr ](https://njh-1996.tumblr.com/)


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